■ 

•■ 


American  Police  Systems 


PUBLISHED  IN  THE  SAME 
SERIES  WITH  THIS  BOOK 

European    Police   Systems 

By  Raymond  B.  Fosdick 

8vo,  442  pages 

Commercialized  Prostitution  in 
New  York  City 

By  George  J.  Kneeland 

With  a  supplementary  chapter  by 

Katharine  Bement  Davis 

8vo,  334  pages 

Prostitution  in  Europe 

By  Abraham  Flexner 

8vo,  455  pages 

Published  by 
THE  CENTURY  CO.,  NEW  YORK 


publications  ot  tbe  asureau  of   Social  IbBfliene 


American  Police  Systems 


BY 

RAYMOND  B.  FOSDICK 

Author  of  "European  Police  Systems'* 


NEW  YORK 
THE  CENTURY  CO, 

1920 


Copyright,  1920,  by 
The  Century  Co. 

LWRARY 


flir-' 


UMUMtfff 


FOREWORD 


^m 


^^tuu 


This  study,  which  I  undertook  at  the  invitation  of  the 
Bureau  of  Social  Hygiene,  as  a  companion  volume  to 
European  Police  Systems,  was  practically  completed  when 
the  United  States  entered  the  war  in  19 17.  Thereafter 
for  over  two  years  and  a  half  my  time  was  so  occupied 
that  there  was  no  opportunity  to  get  the  manuscript  ready 
for  the  press.  Only  recently  have  I  had  leisure  to  finish 
it,  and  its  publication  now  is  due  largely  to  my  associate, 
Mr.  Leonard  V.  Harrison,  whose  research  and  investiga- 
tion in  the  last  six  months  have  brought  my  material  up 
to  date. 

The  book  is  based  upon  personal  study  of  the  police  in 
practically  every  city  in  the  United  States  with  a  popula- 
tion exceeding  100,000,  and  in  many  communities  of 
lesser  size.  In  all,  seventy-two  cities  were  visited,  and 
Mr.  Harrison  has  recently  duplicated  my  itinerary  of 
several  years  ago  to  discover  any  alterations  or  new  de- 
velopments in  the  police  situation  occurring  in  the  inter- 
val. During  the  last  year,  too,  I  have  had  an  opportunity 
to  follow  up  certain  lines  of  research  in  London  and 
Paris,  so  that  the  comparisons  between  European  and 
American  conditions  occurring  in  the  book  are  based  upon 
the  latest  information  available. 

I  am  very  glad  to  have  the  opportunity  of  making 
grateful  acknowledgment  of  the  aid  and  assistance  which 
I  received  from  police  officers  and  other  municipal  officials 

V 

530 


Foreword 

throughout  the  country.  It  is  impossible  to  mention  by 
name  all  those  to  whom  my  thanks  are  due,  but  I  may 
perhaps  be  permitted  to  testify  in  this  general  way  to  the 
patience  and  courtesy  with  which  I  was  everywhere 
treated.  I  am  under  peculiar  obligations  to  Professor 
William  Bennett  Mimro  of  Harvard  University,  Dr. 
Walter  Laidlaw  of  the  New  York  City  1920  Census 
Committee,  Professor  Felix  Frankfurter  of  the  Harvard 
Law  School,  and  Colonel  Arthur  Woods  of  New  York, 
for  their  thoughtful  and  discriminating  criticism  of  por- 
tions of  the  manuscript  which  they  were  kind  enough  to 
read.  In  justice  to  these  gentlemen,  however,  I  hasten  to 
acquit  them  of  any  responsibility  for  the  statements  made 
and  the  opinions  expressed  in  this  book,  or  for  any  errors 
of  omission  or  commission.  The  book  is  mine,  and  I  am 
solely  responsible  for  it. 

Finally,  it  is  my  privilege  to  acknowledge  the  generous 
assistance  and  counsel  of  Mr.  Harrison,  who  has  been 
associated  with  the  investigation  from  the  beginning,  and 
the  long-tried  patience  and  faithfulness  of  my  secretaries, 
Mrs.  Jasper  J,  Mayer,  and  Miss  Helen  T.  Wisherd. 

Raymond  B.  Fosdick. 
233  Broadway, 
New  York  City, 
August  5,  1920. 


VI 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 

Foreword       v 


CHAPTER  I 

THE  AMERICAN  PROBLEM 

Contrast  between  European  and  American  police. —  American 
police  problem  far  more  difficult. —  Heterogeneity  of  Amer- 
ica's population. —  Preponderance  of  crime  in  America. — 
Comparative  statistics :  murder,  burglary,  robbery. —  Rela- 
tion of  heterogeneity  to  crime.^  The  relation  of  court  pro- 
cedure to  the  police  problem. —  The  law's  delays. —  The 
technicalities  of  procedure. —  Faulty  personnel  on  the  bench. 
—  The  sentimental  attitude  of  the  public. —  Relation  of  un- 
enforceable laws  to  American  police  problem. —  Sumptuary 
laws. —  Borderland  between  live  and  dead  law. —  Embar- 
rassment of   the  police 3 


CHAPTER  II 

THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  AMERICAN  POLICE 
CONTROL 

The  early  beginnings :  Boston,  New  York,  Philadelphia,  Cincin- 
nati.—  The  intermediate  period. —  Opposition  to  uniforms. 
—  Mob  rule. —  The  rise  of  police  boards. —  The  development 
of  state  control  in  police  systems. —  The  New  York  exam- 
ple of  1857. —  The  extension  of  state  control  systems. —  The 
bi-partisan  board. —  The  passing  of  the  police  board. —  The 
character  of  the  developmment. —  The  search  for  mechanical 
perfection. —  Politics  in  the  development  of  the  police   .      .     58 


CHAPTER  III 

THE  PRESENT  STATE  OF  POLICE  CONTROL 

State  versus  municipal  control. —  Successes  of   state  control. — 
Failures  of  state  control. —  State  control  in  relation  to  home 

vii 


Contents 

PAGE 

rule  problems.— Applicability  of  state  control.— Board  con- 
trol versus  single  headed  control. —  Weaknesses  of  board 
control — Board  administration  a  part  time  task. —  Lack  of 
Unity  in  board  administration. —  Conflict  of  authority  in 
board  administration. —  Politics  in  board  administration. — 
Elective  boards. —  Bi-partisan  boards. —  The  development  of 
single   headed   control ii8 


CHAPTER  IV 

SPECIAL  PROBLEMS  OF  POLICE  CONTROL 

The  principle  of  responsible  leadership. —  Appointments  of  po- 
lice heads. —  Removals  of  police  heads. —  The  jurisdiction  of 
the  police  department. —  Growth  of  suburbs. —  Disadvan- 
tages of  conflicting  police  systems. —  Advantages  of  metro- 
politan areas. —  Lack  of  standards  in  police  methods  as  be- 
tween states. —  Commission  government  and  the  police  force. 
—  Persomiel  of  commissions. —  Commission  governrnent 
wrong  in  principle. —  Commission  government  and  transient 
management. —  Commission  government  and  irresponsible 
administration. —  The  effect  of  commission  government  on 
the  police  force. —  City  manager  plan l6o 


CHAPTER  V 

THE  ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  DEPARTMENT 

General  organization. —  Relation  between  supervision  and  work. 
—  Examples. —  Adjustment  of  the  machinery  to  its  task. — 
Examples. —  Adaptation  of  the  machinery  to  its  work. — 
Faulty  mechanism  due  to  inelastic  legal  restrictions. —  Illus- 
trations.—  European  departments  far  more  elastic. —  Faulty 
mechanism  due  to  unnecessary  functions. —  Faulty  mecha- 
nism due  to  inadequate  leadership i{ 

CHAPTER  VI 

THE  COMMISSIONER  OR  DIRECTOR 

The  task  of  police  administration. —  Police  administrators  pro- 
moted from  the  ranks. —  Chicago. —  Civilian  police  adminis- 
trators.—  Their  handicaps. —  Examples. —  Police  administra- 
tion and  politics. —  Limited  tenure  of   office. —  Europe  and 

viii 


Contents 

PAGE 

America  in  this  respect. —  Residence  requirements  for  cotn- 
missioners. —  European  and  American  examples. —  The  di- 
lemma and  the  approach  to  its  solution 217 

CHAPTER  VII 

THE  CHIEF  OF  POLICE 

Inaccurate  analogies. —  The  chief  and  his  relations  to  the  di- 
rector.—  The  impermanent  tenure  of  the  chief. —  Illustra- 
tions.—  Impermanent  tenure  due  to  politics. —  E.xamples. — 
The  chief  and  civil  service. —  Difficulties  of  civil  service. — 
Personnel  in  the  position  of  chief. — Politics  and  the  chief    .  249 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE  RANK  AND  FILE 

The  place  of  the  uniformed  force  in  the  police  department. —  Its 
relation  to  other  branches  of  the  service. —  Civil  service  and 
the  police. —  Demoralized  conditions  without  civil  service. — 
Civil  service  in  operation. —  Appointments. —  Promotions. — 
Discipline. —  The  limitations  of  civil  service. —  A  rational 
civil  service  needed. —  The  police  school. —  Educational  ac- 
tivities of  the  New  York  department. —  The  patrol  service. 
—  Foot  patrol  becoming  obsolete. —  Automobiles  in  patrol 
work. —  Over-emphasis  on  the  mechanical  side  of  police  or- 
ganization.—  The  lack  of  fluidity  in  mobilization. —  Police 
unions. —  Responsibility  of  the  community  to  the  police. — 
The  police  and  industrial  disturbance 268 

CHAPTER  IX 

THE  DETECTIVE  FORCE 

The  detective  force. —  T^ie  chief  of  the  detective  bureau. —  ITow 
he  is  selected. —  The  personnel  of  the  detective  bureau. — 
Methods  of  selection. —  Civil  service  versus  administrative 
assignment. —  The  training  of  detectives. —  The  organization 
of  the  detective  bureau. —  Centralization  versus  decentraliza- 
tion.—  Too  frequent  changes  in  organization  plans. —  Ilus- 
trations. —  Lack  of  co-ordination  in  detective  work. —  Lack 
of  business  methods  in  detective  work. —  Lack  of  supervi- 
sion in  detective  work. —  Detective  record  systems. — Crimi- 
nal identification. —  Finger-prints  versus  Bertillon  system. — 
Need  of  national  bureau  for  identification  of  persons  and 
property        326 


Contents 


CHAPTER  X 

THE  PREVENTION  OF  CRIME 

Place  of  crime  prevention  in  work  of  department. —  Attack  on 
the  breeding  places  of  crime. —  Special  conditions  making  for 
crime. —  Educating  the  public. —  The  police  and  ex-convicts. 
—  Juvenile  delinquency. —  Poverty. —  Other  crime  prevention 
methods. —  The  development  of  the  crime  prevention  bureau  354 


CHAPTER  XI 

CONCLUSION 

Contrast  between  American  and  European  police  departments. 
—  Europe  far  in  advance. —  American  progress  seen  by  com- 
parison of  present  with  past. —  Irregular  character  of  im- 
provement.—  Our  achievement  sordid  and  unworthy. —  Im- 
portance of  the  police  problem 379 

Index 391 


CHARTS 

Chicago 384 

Detroit 385 

Los  Angeles 386 

New   York , 387 

Philadelphia 388 

St.  Louis 389 

Washington 390 


X 


AMERICAN  POLICE  SYSTEMS 


AMERICAN  POLICE  SYSTEMS 

CHAPTER  I 

THE    AMERICAN    PROBLEM 

Contrast  between  European  and  American  police. —  American  po- 
lice problem  far  more  difficult. —  Heterogeneity  of  America's  popu- 
lation.—  Preponderance  of  crime  in  America. —  Comparative  statis- 
tics:  murder,  burglary,  robbery. —  Relation  of  heterogeneity  to 
crime. —  The  relation  of  court  procedure  to  the  police  problem. — 
The  law's  delays. —  The  technicalities  of  procedure. —  Faulty  per- 
sonnel on  the  bench. —  The  sentimental  attitude  of  the  public. — 
Relation  of  unenforceable  laws  to  American  police  problem. — 
Sumptuary  laws. —  Borderland  between  live  and  dead  law. —  Em- 
barrassment of  the  police. 

To  the  American  student  of  European  municipal  po- 
lice bodies  the  contrast  with  similar  institutions  in  the 
United  States  furnishes  slight  basis  for  pride.  The  ef- 
ficiency of  the  Metropolitan  Police  Force  of  London,  the 
operation  of  the  detective  bureau  of  Paris,  the  work  of 
the  Carabinieri  in  Rome  and  of  the  Politi  in  Copenhagen 
have  little  comparable  to  them  in  America ;  while  even  as 
regards  the  police  of  smaller  cities  like  Zurich,  Edin- 
burgh or  The  Hague,  an  American  looks  almost  in  vain 
for  equal  effectiveness  at  home.  This  is  so  well  recog- 
nized, indeed,  and  we  have  become  so  accustomed  to 
think  of  our  police  work  as  perhaps  the  most  pronounced 
failure  in  all  our  imhappy  municipal  history,  that  we  are 

3 


American  Police  Systems 

inclined  to  accept  the  phenomenon  without  analysis  and 
charge  it  up  generally  to  "  politics."  That  politics  lies  at 
the  root  of  much  of  it  cannot  of  course  be  denied.  No 
one  can  trace  the  development  of  police  organization  in 
the  United  States,  as  we  shall  follow  it  in  Chapter  II, 
without  realizing  how  true  the  generalization  is;  but  to 
believe  that  the  unfavorable  comparison  between  Euro- 
pean and  American  police  systems  is  chargeable  solely  to 
politics  or  to  the  personnel  of  our  forces  is  to  overlook 
certain  fundamental  divergencies  in  national  conditions, 
customs  and  psychology  which  pile  up  obstacles  in  the 
way  of  efficient  police  work  in  America  almost  beyond 
the  conception  of  the  average  European  official. 

In  a  word,  the  police  of  an  American  city  are  faced 
with  a  task  such  as  European  police  organizations  have 
no  knowledge  of.  The  Metropolitan  Police  Force  of 
London  with  all  its  splendid  efficiency  would  be  over- 
whelmed in  New  York,  and  the  Brigade  de  surete  of 
Paris,  with  its  ingenuity  and  mechanical  equipment,  would 
fall  far  below  the  level  of  its  present  achievement  if  it 
were  confronted  with  the  situation  in  Chicago.  It  is  to 
the  discussion  of  some  of  these  external  factors  which 
complicate  police  function  in  America  that  the  present 
chapter  is  devoted. 

I.       HETEROGENEITY    OF    POPULATION 

With  rare  exceptions,  the  populations  of  European 
cities  are  homogeneous.  The  population  of  American 
cities  is  heterogeneous  to  an  extent  almost  without  paral- 
lel.    Only  3%  of  London's  population  is  foreign-born.^ 

1  Census   of    191 1,   Vol.   9.    Wherever   in   this   book   London   is 

4 


The  American  Problem 

Paris  has  6%,^  Berlin  2.9%,-  Vienna  approximately  one 
per  cent.^  In  America  —  to  use  only  a  few  illustra- 
tions at  random  —  New  York's  foreign-born  population 
is  41%,  Chicago  and  Boston  369^  each,  Cleveland  and 
Providence  34%  each,  Detroit  33%.  Where  London  has 
211,000  foreign-born,  Paris  170,000,  and  Berlin  60,000, 
New  York  has  1,944,357,  of  which  1,563,964  are  of  non- 
English  speaking  peoples,  while  Chicago  has  783,428,  of 
which  653,377  are  from  non-English  speaking  countries.'* 
This  contrast  can  be  emphasized  in  another  way. 
London  has  14,000  Italians  among  her  foreign-born; 
Paris  has  26,000.  New  York  has  340,000;  Chicago  has 
45,000.  London  has  45,000  foreign-born  Russians; 
Paris  18,000.  New  York  has  485,000;  Chicago  121,000. 
Where  Paris  has  7,000  Austro-Hungarians,  New  York 
has  267,000.  Where  London  has  27,000  Poles.  Chicago 
has  126,000.  London's  42,000  foreign-bom  Germans 
must  be  contrasted  with  New  York's  280,000  and  with 
Chicago's  185,000.  New  York's  Italian-born  population 
is  greater  than  the  combined  populations  of  Bologne  and 
Venice.  She  has  more  Gennan-born  residents  than  has 
Bremen,  Konigsberg,  Aix  la  Chap^lle,  Posen,  Kiel  or 
Danzig.  Only  three  cities  of  old  Austria-Hungary  — 
Vienna,  Budapest  and  Prague  —  have  a  larger  Austro- 
Hungarian  population  than  New  York,  while  in  Chicago 

mentioned,  the  reference  is  to  the  Metropolitan  Police  District  which 
covers  an  area  of  699  square  miles  and  includes  a  population  of 
7,231,701. 

^  Annuairc  statistique  dc  la  Fi7/r  dc  Paris,  1912. 

^  Staiistische  Jahrbuch  dcr  Stadt  Berlin,   1913,  pp.  40-41. 

3  That  is,  born  outside  the  limits  of  the  old  Austro-Hungarian 
Empire.  Meyer's  Konversationslexikon,  Vol.  20,  annual  supplement 
1910-11. 

*  Federal  Census  of  1910. 

5 


American  Police  Systems 

the  foreign-born  Austro-Hungarians  outnumber  the  pop- 
ulation of  Brunn,  Cracow  or  Gratz.  In  only  five  Russian 
cities  —  Petrograd,  Moscow,  Odessa,  Warsaw  and  Kiev 
—  can  a  Russian  population  be  found  greater  than  that 
of  New  York. 

But  this  is  not  the  whole  contrast.  The  forebears  of 
London's  present  population  for  generations  back  were 
Englishmen,  bred  to  English  customs  and  traditions,  just 
as  the  forefathers  of  modern  Parisians  were  Frenchmen, 
born  to  French  institutions  and  ideals.  In  New  York, 
Chicago  and  other  large  cities  of  the  United  States  there 
are  hundreds  of  thousands  of  residents  whose  mothers 
or  fathers  or  both  were  born  abroad.  If  we  add  this 
class  to  the  foreign-born  population,  of  which  we  have 
been  speaking,  to  form  what  may  be  called  the  foreign- 
stock  element,  we  find  that  it  comprises  80%  of  New 
York's  population,  and  that  of  the  total  number,  amount- 
ing to  3,769,803,  nearly  three-fourths  came  of  non-Eng- 
lish speaking  people.^  Similarly,  this  foreign-stock  ele- 
ment constitutes  the  majority  of  the  population  in  the 
nineteen  largest  cities  of  the  United  States.  In  other 
words,  the  native  white  population  of  native  parentage 
amounts  to  less  than  one-fifth  the  total  population  of 
New  York  and  less  than  one- fourth  of  the  populations 
of  Chicago,  Boston,  Cleveland,  Detroit  and  Milwaukee; 
while  in  cities  like  Fall  River,  Massachusetts,  it  consti- 
tutes little  more  than  10%.  In  only  fourteen  of  the 
fifty  largest  cities  of  America  does  the  native  parentage 
population  equal  fifty  per  cent  of  the  total. 

1  Ibid.  Congestion  adds  to  the  difficulties  of  heterogeneity.  Lon- 
don in  1911  had  only  180,000  people  housed  219  to  the  acre;  New 
York  in  1910  had  1,171,00a  people  so  housed. 

6 


The  American  Problem 

Again,  the  contrast  can  be  emphasized  in  terms  not 
only  of  race  but  of  color.  In  London  and  other  cities  of 
Great  Britain  the  negro  population  is  so  negligible  that 
the  census  statistics  make  no  mention  of  it.  Only  rarely 
does  one  see  negroes  on  the  streets  and  a  "  color  prob- 
lem "  does  not  exist.  In  America,  in  consequence  of  the 
great  numbers  of  negro  inhabitants,  this  problem  has 
assumed  startling  proportions.  Its  extent  can  be  judged 
from  the  following  figures  :  ^ 

rv  ^^gro  Percentage  of 

City  .    .    f  ..  negroes  to  total 

■'  population  %,   A   ;  *• 

'^  ^  population 

Atlanta  51,902  33.5 

Baltimore  84,749  i5-2 

Birmingham   52,305  39-4 

Charleston  (S.  C.)    31,056  52.8 

Indianapolis , 21,816  9.3 

Kansas  City  23,566  9.5 

Louisville   40,522  18. i 

Memphis 52,441  40.0 

Nashville    36,523  33.1 

New  Orleans 89,262  26.3 

Richmond  46,733  36.6 

Savannah   33,246  51.1 

Washington   94,446  28.5 

The  consequences  of  this  mixture  of  race  and  color  are 
far  reaching,  particularly  in  their  effect  on  such  functions 
as  policing.  Homogeneity  simplifies  the  task  of  govern- 
ment. Long-established  traditions  of  order  and  stand- 
ards of  public  conduct,  well-understood  customs  and  prac- 

^  Census  of  1910. 

7 


American  Police  Systems 

tices  which  smooth  the  rough  edges  of  personal  contact, 
a  definite  racial  temperament  and  a  fixed  set  of  group- 
habits  by  which  conflicting  interests  are  more  readily 
comprehended  and  adjusted  —  in  short,  the  social  soli- 
darity and  cohesiveness  which  come  only  from  a  common 
language  and  a  common  heritage  —  all  these  factors,  so 
interwoven  in  French  and  English  community  life,  and 
so  essential  in  facilitating  the  maintenance  of  law,  are 
utterly  unknown  in  many  of  the  towns  and  cities  of  the 
United  States.  Our  larger  cities,  indeed,  are  often  di- 
vided by  more  or  less  well  defined  lines  into  nationalistic 
sections :  Italians,  Chinese,  Poles,  Russians,  Czechs,  Slavs, 
each  with  their  own  districts,  where  they  settle  in  colony 
fashion.  Here,  frequently  in  comparative  isolation,  they 
speak  their  own  language,  read  their  own  newspapers, 
maintain  their  own  churches  and  their  peculiar  social  life. 
Occasionally  the  so-called  foreign-section  of  a  city  com- 
prises within  a  narrow  area  a  heterogeneous  mixture  of 
races.  In  a  single  ward  in  St.  Louis  —  to  use  an  illus- 
tration that  could  be  duplicated  many  times  — •  are  900 
Austro-Hungarians,  830  Irish,  2301  Germans,  2527  Ital- 
ians, 7534  Russians  and  493  Roumanians  —  all  of  them 
foreign-born  —  in  addition  to  14,067  native  residents  of 
foreign  parentage  and  1602  negroes.^  The  official  cen- 
sus proclamation  of  1920  in  New  York  City  was  printed 
in  22  languages. 

It  is  this  complex  problem  of  nationality  that  the  police 
are  called  upon  to  grapple  with.  They  must  enforce  the 
same  laws  among  a  score  of  races  and  maintain  a  stand- 
ard of  conduct  in  a  population  coming  from  radically  dif- 

1  Personally  communicated. 

s 


The  American  Problem 

ferent  environments.  They  must  be  prepared  to  under- 
stand the  criminal  propensities  of  Sicilians  and  Poles,  of 
Chinese  and  Russians.  They  must  become  expert  in  de- 
tecting crime  characteristics  as  shown  by  twenty  races. 
They  must  deal  with  people  who  have  no  knowledge  of 
public  health  regulations  or  safety  ordinances  or  of  those 
sanitary  laws  which  distinguish  the  modern  city  from  the 
medieval  town.  They  must  have  a  ready  knowledge  of 
national  customs  and  habits  so  as  to  be  forearmed  against 
an  Italian  festival,  a  Polish  wedding  or  a  Russian  holi- 
day. They  must  constantly  realize  that  the  juxtaposition 
of  separate  racial  groups  is  a  factor  of  potential  disorder. 
To  see  the  London  "  Bobby  "  at  work,  dealing  with 
people  of  his  own  race  who  understand  him  and  whom  he 
understands,  is  to  learn  a  larger  sympathy  for  his  brother 
officer  who  walks  the  beat  in  New  York,  Chicago  or  San 
Francisco. 

II.       PREPONDERANCE    OF    CRIME    IN    AMERICA 

The  task  of  the  police  is  further  handicapped  in  the 
United  States,  as  compared  generally  \^"ith  Europe,  by  the 
greater  volume  of  crime  committed  here.  Police  statis- 
tics show  that  crime  is  far  more  prevalent  in  American 
cities  than  in  the  cities  of  England,  France  or  Germany.^ 
The  point  will  undoubtedly  be  made  that  inasmuch  as  the 
prime  duty  of  the  police  is  the  prevention  of  crime,  this 
unhappy  condition  is  the  result  of  our  police  ineffective- 
ness rather  than  one  of  the  causes  of  it.     In  part  this 

^  German  criminal  statistics  after  1914  are  not  available,  and 
PVench  statistics  since  that  date  are  unsatisfactory  for  the  use  of  the 
careful  student.  The  English  statistics  maintain  their  standard  of 
excellence  and  completeness  in  spite  of  the  war. 

9 


American  Police  Systems 

point  is  well  taken,  and  it  must  be  admitted  that  in  assess- 
ing responsibility  for  the  condition  which  we  shall  shortly 
describe,  we  are  in  a  borderland  where  exact  analysis  is 
impossible.  At  the  same  time  the  large  preponderance 
in  America  of  certain  types  of  crime  which  are,  generally 
speaking,  unaffected  by  police  activity  —  such  as  pre- 
meditated murder  and  many  kinds  of  commercial  frauds 
—  afifords  a  basis  for  the  belief  that  our  greater  compara- 
tive propensity  to  crime  is  to  a  certain  degree  due  to  the 
make-up  of  our  population,  quite  apart  from  the  ineffi- 
ciency of  our  police  forces.  To  that  extent,  therefore, 
this  condition  may  be  placed  in  the  list  of  those  external 
factors  which  complicate  our  police  problem. 

Comparative  Statistics  —  Murder. 

As  to  the  fact  of  our  excessive  criminality,  the  statis- 
tics furnish  startling  evidence.  London  in  191 6,  with  a 
population  of  seven  millions  and  a  quarter,  had  nine  pre- 
meditated murders.  Chicago,  one-third  the  size  of  Lon- 
don, in  the  same  period  had  105,  nearly  twelve  times 
London's  total. ^  In  the  year  1916,  indeed  —  and  it  was 
not  an  exceptional  year  —  Chicago  with  its  2,500,000 
people  had  twenty  more  murders  than  the  whole  of  Eng- 
land and  Wales  put  together  with  their  38,000,000  peo- 
ple.2     The  Chicago  murders  during  this  year  total  one 

^  These  figures,  in  both  instances,  do  not  include  abortion  cases. 
I  am  indebted  for  my  Chicago  figures  to  the  Bureau  of  Records  of 
the  Chicago  police  department  which  prepares  perhaps  the  best 
analysis  of  homicidal  deaths  to  be  found  anywhere  in  the  United 
States.  The  London  figures  are  from  the  annual  reports  of  the 
Commissioner  of  the  Metropolitan  Police.  It  must  be  emphasized 
that  these  statistics  in  both  instances  are  based  not  on  judicial  de- 
terminations, but  on  a  police  analysis  of  crime  complaints. 

2  Figures  obtained   from   the  Judicial  Skitistics  of  England  and 

10 


The  American  Problem 

more  than  London  had  during  the  five  year  period  from 
1910  to  1914  inchisive.  In  191 7  Chicago  had  ten  more 
murders  than  the  whole  of  England  and  Wales  and  four 
more  murders  than  all  England,  Wales  and  Scotland.^ 
In  19 1 8  Chicago  had  fourteen  more  murders  than  Eng- 
land and  Whales.  In  1919  the  number  of  murders  in 
Chicago  was  almost  exactly  six  times  the  number  com- 
mitted in  London.  A  tabulation  of  some  of  these  statis- 
tics follows :  ~ 

Murders 

ipi4  iQif^  1Q16  ipiy  igi8 

England  and  Wales  ....     92  81  85  81  81 

Scotland  8  12  9  6  * 

London 16  21  9  16  26 

Liverpool   5  4  4  4  5 

Chicago 87  77  105  91  95 

*  Figures  not  available. 

But  Chicago  is  not  exceptional.  Other  American 
cities  suffer  equally  from  comparison  with  crime  condi- 
tions abroad.     New  York  City  in  191 6  had  exactly  six 

Wales  —  Criviinal  Section  (Table  on  police  returns).  These  statis- 
tics are  published  annually  by  the  Home  Office.  The  figures  quoted 
above  —  indeed  the  crime  figures  quoted  in  this  entire  section  of  the 
chapter  —  do  not  represent  judicial  findings  —  that  is,  they  are  not 
based  on  the  results  of  trials.  They  are  complaints  of  crime,  or,  as 
they  are  called  in  England,  crimes  kiioicn  to  the  police,  regardless 
of  arrests,  convictions,  or  the  particular  degrees  of  crime  for  which 
prisoners  are  sentenced.  Thus  the  police  in  a  given  community 
might  know  that  100  burglaries  had  been  committed  in  the  course  of 
a  year.  Perhaps  50  arrests  are  made  and  40  convictions  secured  in 
varying  degrees  of  burglary  and  housebreaking.  The  index  of  crime 
in  that  community  is  not  found  in  the  arrests  or  the  convictions,  but 
in  the  100  burglaries  known  to  the  police  to  have  been  committed. 

1  Figures  obtained  from  the  Judicial  Statistics  of  Scotland,  pub- 
lished annually  by  the  Scottish  Office. 

2  E.xclusive  of  abortion  cases  and  infanticides. 

II 


American  Police  Systems 

times  the  number  of  homicides  (murder  and  man- 
slaughter) that  London  had  for  the  same  year,  and  only 
ten  less  homicides  than  all  of  England  and  Wales.     In 

1917  New  York  had  six  times  more  homicides  than  Lon- 
don, and  exceeded  the  total  homicides  of  England  and 
Wales  by  56.  In  19 18  New  York  again  had  six  times 
more  homicides  than  London,  and  exceeded  the  total 
homicides  of  England  and  Wales  by  67.^  This  contrast 
cannot  be  attributed  to  the  peculiar  conditions  in  London 
induced  by  the  war.     In  each  of  the  years  from  19 14  to 

19 18  inclusive  New  York  had  more  homicides  than  oc- 
curred in  London  during  any  three  year  period  previous 
to  the  outbreak  of  the  war  in  1914.^  A  tabulation  of 
homicide  statistics  follows : 

^  The  New  York  figures  are  taken  from  the  annual  reports  of  the 
New  York  police  department.  The  homicide  figures  in  all  instances 
are  exclusive  of  abortion  cases  and  vehicular  accident  and  other 
criminal  negligence  cases.  Every  efi'ort  has  been  made  to  verify  the 
accuracy  of  these  statistics  and  careful  studies  have  been  undertaken 
in  New  York,  Chicago  and  London  (at  Scotland  Yard)  to  test  their 
comparability. 

2  At  the  same  time  it  cannot  be  denied  that  the  war  had  some 
effect  upon  criminal  statistics  in  England,  although  the  reduction 
in  homicides  is  not  as  marked  as  might  be  expected.  The  following 
talble  shows  murders  and  manslaughters  in  London  during  the  ten 
years  preceding  the  war : 


Total  homicides 

Year 

Murder 

Manslaughter 

(murder  and 
manslaughter) 

1904 

19 

30 

49 

1905 

20 

24 

44 

1906 

16 

20 

36 

1907 

12 

35 

47 

1908 

18 

35 

53 

1909 

18 

24 

42 

1910 

21 

22 

43 

191 1 

21 

31 

52 

1912 

24 

40 

64 

1913 

22 

38 

60 

I913  22  38  60 

These  figures,  compiled  from  the  reports  of  the  London  police,  are 

12 


The  American  Problem 

Homicide  (murder  and 

manslaughter)^ 

1914  1915     1916  1917  1918 

England  and  Wales  220  226  196  180  154 

Scotland    39  57  53  29  * 

London  46  45  31  39  37 

Liverpool    8  8  8  9  5 

Glasgow    II  23  18  II  9 

New  York   244  234  186  236  221 

Chicago     216  198  255  253  222 

Detroit    , . ..       *  *  62  94  42 

Washington,  D.  C 26  25  24  24  27 

*  Figures  not  available. 

Statistics  of  this  kind  could  be  multiplied  at  length.  In 
the  three  year  period  1916-1918  inclusive,  Glasgow  had 
38  homicides;  Philadelphia,  which  is  only  a  trifle  larger, 
had  during  this  same  period  281.-  Liverpool  and  St. 
Louis  are  approximately  the  same  size;  in  191 5  St.  Louis 
had  eleven  times  the  number  of  homicides  that  Liverpool 
had,  and  in  19 16  eight  times  the  numl^er.^  Los  Angeles, 
one-twentieth  the  size  of  London,  had  two  more  homi- 
cides in  1916  than  London  had  for  the  same  period;  in 
19 1 7  she  had  ten  more  than  London  had.  Cleveland, 
Ohio,  one-tenth  the  size  of  London,  had  more  than  three 

exclusive  of  abortions,  infanticides,  justifiable  homicides  and  all  ve- 
hicular accident  and  criminal  negligence  cases. 

'  Exclusive  of  abortions,  infanticides  and  vehicular  accident  and 
other  criminal  negligence  cases.  New  York  and  Chicago  figures  are 
based  upon  police  reports,  except  the  1915  New  York  figure,  which 
is  based  on  a  personal  examination  of  the  records.  This  examina- 
tion showed  twelve  more  homicides  than  were  indicated  in  the  an- 
nual  report. 

-  Philadelphia  statistics  from  annual  reports,  Bureau  of  Police. 

^  The  St.  Louis  statistics  were  obtained  from  the  police  depart- 
ment records. 

13 


American  Police  Systems 

times  the  number  of  homicides  in  19 17  and  approximately 
twice  the  numl^er  in  1918.^ 

The  chief  constable  for  Edinburgh  in  his  annual  re- 
port for  1 91 5  wrote  as  follows:  "  I  regret  to  state  that 
while  crimes  against  the  person  have  considerably  de- 
creased, a  number  of  serious  crimes  under  the  heading  of 
homicide  were  reported  during  the  year  —  namely,  one 
murder,  one  attempted  murder,  and  five  cases  of  culpable 
homicide."  "  The  one  murder  was  an  abortion  case;  two 
of  the  culpable  homicides  were  cases  in  which  infants  had 
died  from  neglect ;  a  third  was  a  vehicular  accident  case ; 
and  two  others,  "  after  full  investigation  by  the  Crown 
Authorities  were  not  proceeded  with."  ^  Edinburgh  is  a 
city  in  excess  of  300,000  population.  Surely  a  chief  of 
police  in  an  American  city  of  equal  size  would  have  rea- 
sons for  pride  rather  than  regret  if  he  could  point  to 
such  a  record. 

We  have  already  noted  that  as  a  result  of  the  war  re- 
liable crime  statistics  are  not  available  in  Continental  Eu- 
rope. It  is  pertinent  to  note,  however,  that  for  a  long 
time  before  the  war  Berlin  had  an  average  of  25  mur- 
ders a  year,  and  Vienna  an  average  of  nineteen.* 

1  Statistics  obtained  from  police  records. 

^Report  on  Crime  and  ike  Police  Establishment,  1915,  p.  6. 

^  Ibid.  In  his  report  for  1918  the  chief  constable  of  Edinburgh 
says:  "The  only  crime  of  a  serious  nature  recorded  during  the 
year  was  that  of  a  yormg  unmarried  woman  charged  with  culpable 
homicide."  This  was  an  infanticide  case  (p.  8).  In  his  report  for 
1919  this  same  official  said :  "  I  regret  to  state  that  while  crime 
has  slightly  decreased  during  the  year,  crimes  against  the  person 
have  considerably  increased.  .  .  .  Two  cases  of  murder  and  one  case 
of  culpable  homicide  were  reported  to  the  police  during  the  year." 
These  cases  included  one  abortion  and  one  vehicular  accident  case, 
(p.  8.) 

■*  These  figures  I  verified  in  1914  at  police  headquarters  in  Alex- 
andcrplatz,  Berlin,  and  at  the  Agentenrcferat  in  Vienna, 

H 


The  American  Problem 

Comparative  Statistics  —  Burglary. 

Equally  significant  is  the  comparison  of  burglary  sta- 
tistics between  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States.  In 
191 5,  for  example,  New  York  City  had  approximately 
eight  times  as  many  burglaries  as  London  had  in  the  same 
period,  and  nearly  twice  the  number  of  burglaries  re- 
ported in  all  England  and  Wales. ^  In  191 7  New  York 
had  four  times  as  many  burglaries  as  London,  and  ap- 
proximately the  same  number  as  occurred  in  England 
and  Wales.  In  1918  the  burglaries  which  the  police  re- 
ported in  New  York  were  approximately  two  and  a  half 
times  those  in  London.-  While  war  conditions  un- 
doubtedly served  to  heighten  this  contrast,  they  were  by 
no  means  entirely  responsible  for  it;  in  1915  New  York 
City  had  more  burglaries  than  occurred  in  all  England 
and  Wales  in  1911,  1912,  or  1913.^  Chicago  in  1916 
had  532  more  burglaries  than  London,  in  19 17,  3459 
more,  in  191 8.  866  more,  and  in  1919,  2146  more.  De- 
troit   and    Cleveland    generally    report  r  several    hundred 

^  In  New  York  there  were  11,652  burglaries  in  1915:  in  London 
1.459;  in  Kngland  and  Wales  6.737.  I"  order  to  establish  a  com- 
parison I  have  grouped  within  the  classification  "  burglary  "  several 
crimes  which  in  England  are  listed  under  such  titles  as  housebreak- 
ing, shop-breaking,  sacrilege,  etc.  The  crime  burglary  as  used  in 
the  above  comparison  includes  housebreaking  by  day  or  night. 

2  It  seems  probable  that  these  New  York  figures  for  igiS  represent 
an  undcr-statemcnt  of  tlic  actual  nunil)cr  of  l)urglaries. 

^  The  burglaries  occurring  in  London  and  in  England  and  Wales 
from  igio-rgis  inclusive  are  as  follows: 

Year  London         England  and  II 'ales 

1910   .3,057  1-2,215 

191 1    .3,048  n,04S 

1912  2.974  11,112 

1913  2,911  M,\(}6 

1914   2.352  9,844 

1915   1.459  6,737 

15 


American  Police  Systems 

more  burglaries  per  annum  than  London,  although  Lon- 
don is  seven  or  eight  times  larger.  In  each  of  these  two 
cities  in  191 7  and  19 18  the  number  of  burglaries  aver- 
aged one-fourth  the  number  committed  in  all  England 
and  Wales.  The  annual  burglaries  in  St.  Louis  always 
exceed  those  in  London. 

A  table  of  burglaries  follows : 

Burglary,  including  housebreaking  by  day 
or  night,  shop-breaking,  sacrilege,  etc} 
1916  1917  1918 

England  and  Wales. .  ..  7,809  9,453  10,331 

Scotland 3,977  5-073  * 

London    1,581  2,164  ^>777 

Liverpool 1,135  1.361  1,136 

New  York *  9,450  7,412 

Chicago   2,113  5.623  3,643 

Detroit   2,736  3,080  2,047 

Cleveland  *  2,752  2,608 

St.  Louis 3,212  2,483  2,989 

*  Figures  not  available. 

The  disproportionate  number  of  burglaries  occurring 
in  American  cities  as  compared  with  English  cities  is  re- 
flected in  the  prevailing  burglary  insurance  rates  of  the 
two  countries.     Due  to  differences  in  insurance  practices 

1  The  American  figures  in  this  table  are  taken  from  police  depart- 
ment records.  Their  accuracy  cannot  be  vouched  for,  because  in 
many  of  our  departments,  complaints  of  crime  are  deliberately  and 
systematically  concealed.  It  can  safely  be  assumed,  however,  that 
these  figures  represent  an  under-statement  rather  than  an  over- 
statement. The  English  statistics,  on  the  other  hand,  are  kept  with 
meticulous  care,  and  after  a  careful  study  of  the  records  and  meth- 
ods at  Scotland  Yard  and  elsewhere  in  Great  Britain,  I  do  not  be- 
lieve that  complaints  of  crime  are  ever  concealed  to  avoid  unfavor- 
able appearances. 

16 


The  American  Problem 

and  methods,  exact  comparisons  are  impossible,  but 
enough  has  been  gathered  from  careful  investigation  to 
warrant  the  general  conclusion  that  burglary  rates  in 
American  municipalities  are  from  fifteen  to  twenty  times 
higher  than  in  the  principal  cities  of  England.^ 

Comparative  Statistics  —  Robbery. 

Even  more  startling  are  the  statistics  of  robbery.^ 
New  York  City  in  191 5  reported  838  robberies  and  as- 
saults with  intent  to  rob  where  London  had  20,  and  Eng- 
land, Wales  and  Scotland  together  had  102.  In  1916 
New  York  had  886  such  crimes  to  London's  nineteen,  and 
England,  Wales  and  Scotland's  227.  In  19 17  New  York 
reported  864  to  London's  38,  while  England,  Wales 
and  Scotland  reported  233.  In  19 18  New  York  had 
849,  while  London  had  63  and  England  and  Wales  had 
100.  This  contrast  is  by  no  means  ascribable  to  war 
conditions,  although  such  conditions  undoubtedly  height- 
ened it.  In  each  of  the  four  years  from  1915  to  1918 
inclusive,  New  York  City  had  from  four  to  five  times 
more  robberies  than  occurred  in  all  England  and  Wales  in 
any  one  of  the  five  years  preceding  the  war. 

1  This  statement  is  based  on  quite  a  detailed  study  of  burglary 
insurance  in  London  and  New  York  and  I  am  indebted  to  various 
insurance  company  representatives  in  both  cities  for  their  courtesy 
and  assistance.  An  interesting  comparison  in  burglary  insurance 
rates  for  private  residences  is  possible  between  different  American 
cities.  The  rates  prevailing  in  June,  1920,  for  seven  municipalities 
are  as  follows:  Chicago  and  San  Francisco,  $19.80  per  thousand; 
New  York.  St.  Louis  and  Detroit,  $16.50  per  thousand;  Atlanta, 
$1375  per  thousand;  Boston,  $11.00  per  thousand. 

-  The  astonishing  discrepancy  in  these  statistics  led  to  a  careful 
investigation.  The  legal  definitions  of  robbery  are  practically  identi- 
cal on  botli  sides  of  the  Atlantic.  The  fact  remains  that  liighway 
robberies  or  "  liold-ups "  do  not  occur  in  Great  Britain  with  any- 
thing like  the  frequency  they  do  in  America. 

17 


American  Police  Systems 

Practically  the  same  proportion  exists  between  Chi- 
cago's robberies  and  those  in  Great  Britain.  In  191 8,  for 
example,  Chicago  had  22  robberies  for  every  one  robbery 
in  London  and  14  robberies  for  every  one  robbery  in 
England  and  Wales.  Washington,  D.  C,  in  1916  had 
four  times  the  number  of  robberies  that  London  reported; 
in  1917  three  times  the  number;  and  in  1918  one  and  one- 
half  times  the  number.  Los  Angeles  in  1916  had  64 
more  robberies  than  all  of  England,  Wales  and  Scot- 
land put  together;  in  191 7  she  had  126  more  than  these 
three  countries.  Cities  like  St.  Louis  and  Detroit,  in 
their  statistics  of  robbery  and  assault  with  intent  to  rob, 
frequently  show  annual  totals  varying  from  three  times 
to  five  times  greater  than  the  number  of  such  crimes  re- 
ported for  the  whole  of  Great  Britain.  Liverpool  is 
about  one  and  a  third  times  larger  than  Cleveland,  and 
yet  in  19 19  Cleveland  reported  31  robberies  for  every 
one  reported  in  Liverpool. 

Comparative  Statistics  —  Miscellaneous. 

Differences  in  definition  and  classification  of  crime  be- 
tween England  and  America  make  it  difficult  to  push  the 
comparison  much  further.  One  or  two  illustrations, 
however,  may  be  noted  to  emphasize  the  contrast  devel- 
oped in  the  foregoing  statistics.  Automobile  thefts  are 
much  more  prevalent  in  America  than  in  Great  Britain, 
as  is  shown  by  the  following  table : 

Thefts  of  automobiles  reported  in  igi^  ^ 

New  York 5527 

Chicago 4316 

1  Figures   in   all   cases  obtained   from  the   police   records.    I   am 

18 


The  American  Problem 

Detroit    3482 

St.  Louis 1244 

Cleveland    2327 

Buffalo   986 

London    290 

Liverpool    10 

Comparative  statistics  as  to  the  number  of  automo- 
biles in  American  and  English  cities  are  impossible  to  ob- 
tain, but  it  is  probably  a  fair  assumption  that  the  pro- 
portionate excess  of  thefts  in  the  United  States  far  ex- 
ceeds the  admittedly  larger  supply  of  machines  in  our 
communities  as  compared  with  the  communities  of  Great 
Britain. 

Similarly  in  comparing  the  total  number  of  arrests  for 
all  crimes  and  offenses  in  the  United  States  and  Great 
Britain,  one  is  stnick  by  the  high  figures  in  American 
cities.^  The  number  of  arrests  in  Bos^Dn  for  the  year 
191 7  exceeded  the  number  of  arrests  in  London  for  the 
same  year  by  32,520.  Philadelphia's  arrests  for  1917 
exceeded  London's  by  20,005.  Chicago's  arrests  for 
1917  exceeded  London's  by  61,874.  New  York's  ar- 
rests for  this  same  period  exceeded  London's  by  iii,- 
877.     Indeed  New  York  had  almost  two  and  a  half  times 

especially  indebted  to  the  Honorable  Trevor  Bigham,  assistant  com- 
missioner at  Scotland  Yard,  for  his  courtesy  in  aiding  me  to  obtain 
the  London  figures. 

^  Figures  of  arrests  must  always  be  taken  with  some  qualification, 
as  they  are  subject  to  various  interpretations.  They  may  denote 
crime  conditions,  or  excessive  zeal  on  the  part  of  the  police,  or  too 
many  laws  and  regulations  to  be  observed,  or  any  one  of  half  a 
dozen  other  situations.  Because  in  this  case  the  American  arrests 
exceed  the  English  arrests  by  such  large  figures,  I  have  felt  free  to 
use  the  comparison  as  at  least  throwing  some  further  light  on  crirai- 
nalitj'  in  the  United  States. 

19 


American  Police  Systems 

as  many  arrests  in  1917  as  were  made  in  London.  Glas- 
gow with  an  estimated  population  of  a  third  of  a  million 
larger  than  either  St.  Louis  or  Boston,  recorded  in  191 8 
22,290  arrests  and  summonses,  while  St.  Louis  in  the 
same  period  showed  54,400  and  Boston  90,293.  This 
same  disproportion  is  to  be  found  in  cities  of  lesser  size. 

Relation  of  Heterogeneity  to  Crime. 

To  what  extent  the  excessive  volume  of  crime  in  Amer- 
ica is  attributable  to  the  heterogeneity  of  our  population 
cannot  be  precisely  determined.  Even  where  they  exist 
at  all,  our  criminal  statistics  are  so  crude  and  incomplete 
that  deductions  are  difficult  to  make  and  when  made  are 
little  better  than  rough  estimates.  The  number  of  ar- 
rests in  the  course  of  a  year  is  practically  the  only  classi- 
fication available  for  our  purposes,  and  the  fact  that  this 
basis  of  measurement  makes  no  allowance  for  unsolved 
crimes  or  for  cases  subsequently  discharged  in  court, 
shows  its  unsatisfactory  character.  However  as  an  indi- 
cation of  the  causal  connection  between  the  presence  in 
America  of  large  numbers  of  foreign  races,  uprooted  and 
often  adrift,  and  our  overwhelming  preponderance  of 
crime,  the  figures  of  arrest  may  profitably  be  studied. 
They  show,  for  example,  that  Irish-born  inhabitants  of 
Boston,  constituting  9.8%  of  the  population,  are  charged 
with  15%  of  the  total  arrests.^  In  New  York  City  the 
Russian-born  inhabitants,  constituting  10.15%  of  the 
population,  are  credited  with  20%  of  the  total  arraign- 
ments before  the  magistrates'  courts,  while  the  Italian- 

1  Calculation  based  on  U.  S.  Census  report  and  Annual  Report  of 
the  Police  Department  for  1918. 

20 


The  American  Problem 

born,  who  equal  7.15%  of  the  population,  have  11.8% 
of  the  arraignments.^  The  total  figure  of  arraignments 
before  the  magistrates'  courts  in  New  York  for  1917 
can  be  calculated  as  follows : 

Percentage  of  Percentage  of 

Nativity                     total  population  total  arraignments 

Foreign  bom 40.8%  52-9% 

Native  born 59.2  47.1 

(of      native,      foreign     or 
mixed  parentage) 

These  figures,  however,  are  largely  made  up  of  mis- 
demeanors, including  violations  of  sanitary  regulations, 
health  ordinances,  etc.,  which  as  far  as  the  foreigner  is 
concerned  may  be  often  the  result  of  ignorance.  Cer- 
tainly they  do  not  necessarily  imply  criminality.  A  fairer 
judgment  can  be  based  on  cases  of  felonytas  distinguished 
from  misdemeanor.  Arrests  for  felony  in  1918  in  Chi- 
cago, for  example,  can  be  illustrated  as  follows :  ^ 

Percentage  of  total  Percentage  of  total 

Country  of  Origin  population  felony  arrests 

U.  S.  white 62.1%  55-1% 

U.  S.  colored 2.0  13.2 

Poles   5.8  6.4 

Russia  5.6  5.9 

Italy    2.06  4.3 

Germany  8.3  2.4 

Lithuania  (including  Letts)         .9  2.3 

Other  nationalities    12.+  10.+ 

1  Calculations   based   on  Annual    Report  of  City   Magistrates   for 
1917. 

2  Compiled  from  annual  police  report  of  Chicago  for  1918. 

21 


American  Police  Systems 

This  can  further  be  ilktstrated  by  figures  showing  the 
respective  percentages  of  felony  arrests  and  misdemeanor 
arrests  in  the  total  arrests  of  each  of  the  above  nationali- 
ties :  ^ 

Percentage  of  Percentage  of 

felony  misdemeanor 
Nationality                             arrests  arrests 

U.  S.  white 9-97%  90.03% 

U.  S.  colored 15.8  84.2 

Poles    11.3  88.7 

Russia 15-97  84.03 

Italy    15.3  84.7 

Germany 1 1 .5  88.5 

Lithuania    14.6  88.4 

Other  nationalities  8.5  91.5 

The  problem  presented  by  the  colored  race  is  shown 
in  the  following  statistics  of  arrest  from  Washington, 
D,  C,  for  the  year  1919 : 


2 


Percentage  of  total  Percentage  of 
population  total  arrests 

White  71.5%  57-57% 

Colored  28.5  42.43 

Another  calculation  follows  showing  the  number  of  ar- 
rests for  serious  offenses  in  the  same  city  for  the  same 
year ; ^ 

^Ibid.  _ 

2  Compiled  from  annual  report  of  the  Metropolitan  Police  of  the 
District  of  Columbia  for  1919. 

3  Ibid.     Similar  statistics  are  obtainable  in  other  cities  which  have 
large  colored  populations. 

22 


The  American  Problem 

Nature  of  Offense  Number  of  Arrests 

White  Colored 

(constituting  71.5%  (constituting  28.5% 

of  population)  of  population) 

Murder  .  . 15  34 

Manslaughter  6  8 

Assault    with    dangerous 

weapon  33  249 

Assault  with  intent  to  kill           6  10 

Housebreaking 139  323 

Robbery    40  283 

An  intensive  study  of  homicide  records  furnishes  simi- 
larly interesting  results.  For  example,  the  general  homi- 
cide return  for  New  York  City  in  191 5,  exclusive  of 
abortions,  vehicular  accidents  and  justifiable  homicides, 
shows  that  240  cases  w^ere  known  to  the  police  in  which  a 
total  of  251  persons  were  killed.^  Of  "this  number,  six 
were  infants  below  the  age  of  one  year,  and  one  was  an 
adult  who  was  never  identified.  Distributing  the  re- 
maining 244  decedents  according  to  nativity  we  find  that 
93  were  born  in  the  United  States  of  native  parents,  26 
w^ere  natives  of  the  United  States  with  foreign-born  par- 
ents, and  125  were  foreign-born.  Of  the  240  cases,  ar- 
rests were  made  in  161,  and  222  persons  were  charged 
with  homicide.  Of  the  222.  60  were  natives  of  native 
parentage,  65  w'ere  born  in  Italy,  wdiile  twelve  others  were 
native-born  of  Italian  parentage.  The  Russian-born 
numbered  21,  and  the  native-born  of  Irish  parentage  were 
next  in  order  with  a  total  of  nineteen. - 

^  These   statistics   are   the    result   of   personal    research    at    Police 
Headquarters  in  New  York. 

-  The  coiiiplcte  list  of  the  nativities  of  the  222  persons  apprehended 

23 


American  Police  Systems 

The  Chicago  PoHce  Department  reported  "jy  cases  of 
premeditated  murder  for  the  year  191 5,  accounting  for 
the  death  of  77  people.  Of  the  59  persons  arrested  on 
the  charges  of  murder  and  accessory  to  murder,  25  were 
native  whites,  nineteen  were  ItaHans,  ten  were  native 
negroes,  two  were  Poles,  and  three  were  of  other  nation- 
alities.^ 

was  as  follows:  Italy,  65;  United  States,  60;  Russia,  21;  United 
States  (parents  Ireland),  19;  United  States  (parents  Italy),  12; 
Austria,  11;  United  States  (parents  Germany),  8;  Ireland,  7;  Ger- 
many, 4;  United  States  (parents  Austria),  3;  England,  i;  England 
(parents  Russia),  i;  Finland,  i;  Greece,  i;  Hawaiian  Islands,  i; 
Hungary,  i ;  Scotland,  i ;  Turkey,  i ;  United  States  (parents  Can- 
ada), i;  United  States  (parents  Russia),  i;  United  States  (parents 
Sweden),  r;  West  Indies,  i. 

It  is  possible  to  push  this  analysis  a  little  further.  We  have  seen 
that  arrests  were  made  in  161  of  the  240  cases  of  homicide  known 
to  the  police.  In  27  cases  the  perpetrators  committed  suicide,  in 
one  case  the  perpetrator  was  killed,  so  that  there  remained  51  cases 
which  were  not  solved  by  the  police  and  in  which  no  arrests  were 
made.  Considerable  importance  attaches  to  these  cases,  as  unsolved 
crimes  are  more  likely  to  be  planned  by  the  wary  and  seasoned 
criminal.  In  homicides,  the  very  fact  that  no  clue  is  left  may  indi- 
cate greater  caution  and  more  carefully  laid  plans.  To  include  in 
the  calculation,  therefore,  only  those  cases  in  which  arrests  have 
been  made,  is  to  eliminate  the  most  dangerous  and  vicious  crimes  and 
criminals.  For  these  reasons  a  careful  examination  was  made  of 
the  Detective  Bureau  records  pertaining  to  the  51  unsolved  murder 
cases,  and  personal  interviews  were  had  with  the  detectives  having 
the  cases  in  charge.  In  many  of  them,  while  the  perpetrator  was 
known  with  reasonable  certainty,  the  evidence  was  not  sufificient  to 
warrant  an  arrest.  On  the  basis  of  this  calculation,  of  the  51  un- 
solved cases,  31  can  with  reasonable  accuracy  be  charged  to  natives 
of  Italy;  4  perpetrators  are  believed  to  be  natives  of  the  United 
States,  one  a  native  of  Irish  parentage,  and  one  an  Austrian.  In  14 
cases  no  clue  whatever  was  established. 

1  A  study  similar  to  that  carried  on  in  New  York  was  made  of 
Chicago's  1915  cases.  As  in  New  York,  it  consisted  of  close  ex- 
amination of  the  Detective  Bureau  records  and  consultation  with 
the  detectives.  The  unsolved  cases  amount  to  30  cases  of  murder 
and  10  cases  of  manslaughter,  and  the  perpetrators  can  with  reason- 
able certainty  be  distributed  among  the  following  nationalities: 
United  States  (white),  6;  United  States  (colored),  6;  United  States 
(parents  Polish),  i;  United  States  (parents  Irish),  i;  Italian,  13; 
Poland,  2 ;  Russia,  2 ;  Serbian,  i ;  Turk,  i ;  Chinese,  i ;  no  clue,  6. 

24 


The  American  Problem 

In  St.  Louis  during  191 5  there  were  71  cases  of  mur- 
der and  manslaughter^  in  which  there  were  71  dece- 
dents and  72  perpetrators.  The  nativity  of  the  perpe- 
trators in  these  cases  almost  coincided  with  the  nativity 
of  the  decedents.  Of  native  whites  there  were  34  dece- 
dents and  35  perpetrators;  of  the  native  colored  there 
were  twenty  decedents  and  24  perpetrators ;  seven  dece- 
dents were  of  Italian  parentage  as  were  six  perpetrators; 
there  were  three  Albanian  decedents  and  two  Albanian 
perpetrators ;  seven  decedents  of  other  nationalities,  with 
live  perpetrators  of  other  nationalities.- 

In  Memphis  in  19 15  there  were  76  cases  of  murder  and 
manslaughter  in  which  78  people  were  killed.  Of  the 
persons  killed,  nineteen  were  white  and  59  were  colored. 
Of  the  yy  alleged  perpetrators,  the  wj;iites  numbered 
seventeen,  the  colored  53,  unknown  four,  patrolmen  in  the 
performance  of  duty,  three.^ 

In  Washington,  D.  C,  in  the  five  years  between  191 5 
and  19 1 9,  143  homicides  were  committed.  In  all  but  five 
of  these  cases  the  police  succeeded  in  apprehending  the 
persons  charged  with  the  crime.     Of  the  138  cases  thus 

^  This  figure  does  not  include  abortions,  justifiable  homicides  or 
criminal  carelessness  cases.  Arrests  were  made  in  56  cases,  in  two 
the  perpetrators  committed  suicide  and  thirteen  remained  unsolved 
by  the  police. 

2  These  statistics  were  gathered  by  personal  research.  It  is  worthy 
of  note  that  in  St.  Louis  in  this  period  (1915)  one  negro  was 
charged  with  murder  or  manslaughter  for  every  1,832  of  the  col- 
ored population,  and  one  white  was  charged  with  the  same  of?ense 
for  every  13,385  of  the  population. 

'Arrests  were  made  in  yj  cases,  15  of  the  perpetrators  being 
white  and  22  being  colored.  Of  the  remaining  36  unsolved  cases, 
two  white  perpetrators  were  known  but  not  apprehended,  29  col- 
ored perpetrators  were  unapprehended,  four  cases  remained  without 
clue,  and  one  perpetrator  committed  suicide.  (Statistics  gathered 
by  personal  research.) 

25 


American  Police  Systems 

cleared  up,  45  were  committed  by  white  persons  and  93 
by  negroes.^  Of  the  45  white  persons,  five  were  for- 
eigners. 

Calculations  such  as  these  furnish  indisputable  evi- 
dence that  America's  crime  rate  is  greatly  augmented  by 
the  presence  of  unassimilated  or  poorly  assimilated  races. 
It  must  not  be  supposed,  however,  that  our  foreign  and 
colored  population  is  the  sole  cause  of  our  excessive  crime 
rate.  If  the  ofifenses  of  our  foreign  and  colored  races 
were  stricken  from  the  calculation,  our  crime  record  would 
still  greatly  exceed  the  record  of  Western  Europe.     With 

1  The  complete  tabulation  of  these  homicides  is  as  follows : 

1915  igi6  1917  1918  1919  Total 

Total  number  of  homicides. ..  .     25  24  24  26  44  143 

Cleared  up    25  23  24  26  40  138 

Not  cleared  up o  i  o  o  4  5 

Committed  by  whites   13  5  9  4  14  45 

Committed  by  negroes   12  18  15  22  26  93 

The  details  of  the  above  totals  are  as  follows : 

White  men  killed  by  negroes.  .       o  2  3  5  4  14 

Negroes  killed  by  white  men.  .21103  7 
White    men    killed    by    white 

women    o  i  0  o  i  2 

White  women  killed  by  white 

men 4  2  3  3  3  15 

Negro  women  killed  by  negro 

men   6  7  4  4  4  25 

Negro    men    killed    by    negro 

women    o  o  2  o  3  5 

Negro  men  killed  by  negro  men      7  9  6  13  15  50 

White  men  killed  by  white  men      6  i  5  i  7  20 

The  above  figures,  which  were  furnished  through  the  courtesy  of 
the  late  Major  Pullman  of  the  Washington  force,  are  exclusive  of 
abortions,  infanticides,  and  justifiable  homicides.  The  record  made 
by  the  police  of  Washington,  D.  C,  in  clearing  up  all  but  five  cases 
out  of  143  is  most  unusual  and  compares  favorably  with  the  best 
records  of  European  police  departments.  As  will  be  noted  by  the 
above  table,  the  Washington  police  department  in  three  different 
twelve-month  periods  scored  a  hundred  per  cent  record  in  their  work. 
In  some  cities  the  record  of  homicide  cases  cleared  up  is  only  thirty 
and  forty  per  cent  of  the  total. 

26 


The  American  Problem 

all  its  kindliness  and  good  nsture.  the  temper  of  our 
communities  contains  a  strong  strain  of  violence.  We 
condone  violence  and  shirk  its  punishment.  We  lack  a 
high  instinct  for  order.  We  lack  a  sense  of  the  dignity 
of  obedience  to  restraint  which  is  demanded  for  the  com- 
mon good.  We  lack  a  certain  respect  for  our  own  secur- 
ity and  the  terms  upon  which  civilized  communities  keep 
the  peace. 

"  There  is  probably  more  undisciplined,  egotistic,  mis- 
chievous force  in  the  United  States  than  in  any  country 
of  first  rank  in  the  w'orld.''  ^  This  indictment,  framed 
by  an  indignant  newspaper,  is  scarcely  exaggerated. 
There  is  hardly  a  community  where  its  accuracy  is  not 
vindicated.  It  is  little  wonder,  therefore,  that  the  task 
which  we  have  set  before  our  police  hasfall  but  proved 
impossible. 

III.       THE    L.WV'S    DELAYS,    THE    COURTS,    AND    THE 
PUBLIC 

The  police  are  but  one  part  of  the  machinery  of  jus- 
tice. Their  function  is  to  maintain  order  and  if  neces- 
sary apprehend  offenders.  With  the  prosecution,  trial 
and  punishment  of  these  offenders,  however,  they  have 
little  to  do.  They  start  the  process  but  they  do  not 
finish  it.  The  prosecuting  attorneys'  offices,  the  courts 
and  the  prisons  take  up  the  thread  of  their  w^ork  where 
the  police  leave  it.  The  operation  of  justice  is  a  single 
operation  working  through  a  number  of  agencies. 

It  follows,  therefore,  that  the  effectiveness  of  the  po- 
lice cannot   be   judged   apart    from   the  effectiveness  of 

1  Chicago  Tribune  (Paris  edition),  January  31,  1919. 

27 


American  Police  Systems 

other  agencies  with  which  they  are  associated  in  working 
for  a  common  end.  If  the  district  attorney's  office  is  lax 
in  its  prosecutions,  if  legal  procedure  makes  for  delay 
and  uncertainty,  if  the  court  is  slothful  or  open  to  un- 
worthy influence  in  its  decisions,  the  ends  of  justice  for 
which  the  police  are  working  are  apt  to  be  defeated.  The 
failure  of  a  single  agency  impairs  the  work  of  all. 

This  is  a  point  which  cannot  be  too  strongly  empha- 
sized. In  the  popular  mind  the  police  are  often  held  re- 
sponsible for  results  over  which  they  have  no  control. 
They  share  the  ignominy  which  belongs  to  other  parts 
of  the  machine,  as  well  as  the  discouragement  of  associa- 
tion with  an  enterprise  which  so  often  fails.  Efficient 
work  on  their  part  in  the  detection  of  a  criminal,  for  ex- 
ample, or  in  the  prevention  of  an  abuse,  stands  an  excel- 
lent chance  of  being  mangled  and  destroyed  in  the  subse- 
quent processes.  Indeed,  without  the  support  of  an  ad- 
ministration of  justice  that  is  prompt  and  certain,  con- 
sistently effective  police  work  is  out  of  the  question. 

It  is,  of  course,  a  notorious  fact  that  such  support  is 
not  given  our  police  forces.  There  is  no  part  of  its  work 
in  which  American  law  fails  so  absolutely  and  so  ludi- 
crously as  in  the  conviction  and  punishment  of  criminals. 
"  It  is  not  too  much  to  say,"  said  President  Taft  in  1909, 
"  that  the  administration  of  criminal  law  in  this  country  is 
a  disgrace  to  our  civilization,  and  that  the  prevalence  of 
crime  and  fraud,  which  here  is  greatly  in  excess  of  that  in 
European  countries,  is  due  largely  to  the  failure  of  the 
law  and  its  administration  to  bring  criminals  to  justice."  ^ 

1  Chicago  Speech,  September,  1909.  Quoted  in  The  Reform  of 
Legal  Procedure  by  Moorfield  Storey,  Yale  University  Press,  191 1, 
p.  3- 

28 


The  American  Problem 

The  Technicalities  of  Procedure. 

Space  is  not  available  for  more  than  a  hasty  discussion 
of  this  important  farctor.  In  the  first  place,  our  legal 
procedure  with  its  red  tape  and  technicalities  is  fantas- 
tically employed  to  aid  the  criminal.  When  a  verdict  of 
murder  is  set  aside  because  the  word  "  aforethought "  is 
omitted  after  the  word  "  malice  " ;  ^  when  a  man  con- 
victed of  assault  with  intent  to  kill  is  freed  because  the 
copying  c-lerk  left  out  the  letter  /  in  the  word  malice;  ^ 
when  an  indictment  for  rape  is  held  defective  because  it 
concluded  "  against  the  peace  and  dignity  of  State  "'  in- 
stead of  "  against  the  peace  and  dignity  of  the  State  ";  ^ 
when  another  murderer  is  discharged  because  the  prose- 
cution neglected  to  prove  thtit  the  real  naftie  of  the  victim 
and  hrs  alias  represented  one  and  the  same  person ;  ■*  when 
a  horse-thief  is  released  because  the  indictment  ended  in 
the  words  "  agai-nst  the  peace  and  dignity  of  the  state  of 
W.  Virgi-nia,"  instead  of  "against  the  peace  and  dignity 
of  the  state  of  West  Virginia  "  ^ —  briefly,  when  in  a  man- 
ner utterly  unknown  in  Europe,  such  absurdities  can  be 
spun  to  defeat  the  ends  of  justice,  it  is  not  surprising  that 
the  police  are  slack  and  careless."     The  morale  of  the  best 

1  Etheridge  vs.  State,  141  Ala.  29. 

2  Wood  vs.  State,  50  Ala.  144. 

3  State  vs.  Campbell,  210  Mo.,  202. 

4  Goodlove  vs.  State,  8_>  O.  S.  365. 
^  Lemons  vs.  State,  4  W.  Va.  755. 

''  Although  there  are  a  few  recent  cases,  I  believe  that  the  courts 
as  a  whole  are  less  inclined  than  formerly  to  upset  convictions  be- 
cause of  faulty  indictments.  Sec  Garland  vs.  IVashinglon,  232  U.  S. 
642  (1914).  overruling  Cra'tn  vs.  U.  S.,  162  U.  S.  625  (1896).  See 
also  I'aldcc  vs.  U.  S.,  244  U.  S.  432.  It  is  noteworthy  too  that  Con- 
gress in  1919  passed  the  following  amendment  to  the  Judicial  Code: 
"  Sec.  269.  All  of  the  said  courts  shall  have  power  to  grant  new 
trials,  in  cases  where  there  has  been  a  trial  by  jury,  for  reasons 

29 


American  Police  Systems 

police  organization  in  the  world  would  soon  be  broken 
down  in  such  an  environment.  "  It 's  small  satisfaction 
to  catch  the  crooks,"  a  chief  of  detectives  told  me,  "  when 
you  know  all  the  time  that  some  sharp  legal  trick  will  be 
used  to  turn  them  free." 

A  member  of  the  Alabama  Bar,  addressing  the  Bar 
Association  of  that  State,  said :  "  I  have  examined 
about  75  murder  cases  that  found  their  way  into  the  re- 
ports of  Alabama.  More  than  half  of  those  cases  were 
reversed  and  not  a  single  one  of  them  on  any  matter  that 
went  to  the  merits  of  the  case;  and  very  few  of  them 
upon  any  matter  that  could  have  influenced  the  jury  in 
reaching  a  verdict."  ^  This  same  story  comes  from  all 
over  the  country. 

Again,  the  special  defenses  which  the  common  law 
throws  about  the  defendant  have  been  so  interpreted  and 
developed  as  to  afford  the  accused  a  degree  of  protection 
out  of  all  relation  to  modern  conditions.  The  principle 
that  nb  person  shall  be  compelled  to  give  evidence  against 

for  which  new  trials  have  usually  been  granted  in  the  courts  of 
law.  On  the  hearing  of  any  appeal,  certiorari,  writ  of  error,  or 
motion  for  a  new  trial,  in  any  case,  civil  or  criminal,  the  court 
shall  give  judgment  after  an  examination  of  the  entire  record  be- 
fore the  court  without  regard  to  technical  errors  or  defects  or  to 
exceptions  which  do  not  affect  the  substantial  rights  of  the  par- 
ties." 

This  reform  has  in  substance  been  adopted  in  the  following  25 
states :  Alabama,  Arizona,  California,  Florida,  Illinois,  Indiana, 
Iowa,  Kansas,  Kentucky,  Michigan,  Minnesota,  Missouri,  Montana, 
Nebraska,  Nevada,  New  Hampshire,  New  Jersey,  New  Me.xico, 
New  York,  Ohio,  Oklahoma,  Pennsylvania,  Texas,  Wisconsin  and 
Wyoming.  (A  summary  of  the  statutes  and  decisions  in  these 
states  is  to  be  found  in  66  U.  of  P.  L.  Rev.  12.  For  further  discus- 
sion see  Third  Annual  Report  of  the  Standing  Committee  of  the 
American  Bar  Association  to  Suggest  Remedies  and  Propose  Laws 
Relating  to  Procedure,  dated  June  10,  1919.) 
1  Storey,  loc.  cit.,  p.  231. 

30 


The  American  Problem 

himself,  or  shall  be  placed  twice  in  jeopardy  for  the  same 
offense,  furnishes  the  basis  for  constantly  recurring  per- 
versions of  justice  upon  which  foreign  jurists  look  with 
amazement.  The  accused  has  wide  privileges  of  chal- 
lenge in  the  choice  of  a  jury  which  are  denied  the  prose- 
cution ;  he  cannot  be  made  to  take  the  stand  in  his  own 
defense  and  his  failure  to  do  so  cannot  be  used  against 
him ;  he  has  the  right  of  appeal  to  higher  courts  while  the 
state  has  none.  As  many  prosecuting  officers  have 
pointed  out,  the  criminal  law  in  America  is  a  game  in 
which  the  defendant  is  given  every  chance  to  escape,  fair 
and  unfair,  while  every  possible  obstacle  is  placed  in  the 
way  of  the  prosecution.  To  such  an  extent  has  this  situ- 
ation developed  that  under  present  conditions  it  would 
seem  to  be  the  community  that  stands  in  need  of  protec- 
tion rather  than  the  criminal.^  ''  The  wonder  now  is 
not  that  so  many  guilty  men  escape,"  said  a  prominent 
member  of  the  Philadelphia  Bar,  "  but  that  under  our 
present  system  any  guilty  men  are  ever  convicted. 
Where  they  ha\e  money  enough  to  employ  the  most  able 
counsel  and  to  take  advantage  of  every  delay  and  tech- 
nicality available,  they  practically  never  are  convicted."  - 
In  a  single  year  in  Oregon  —  to  use  an  illustration  that 
could  be  duplicated  everywhere  —  there  occurred  56 
homicides.     Forty-six    of    the    offenders    were    arrested. 

1  "  The  fact  is  that  our  administration  of  criminal  law  has  as 
nearly  reached  perfection  in  guarding  the  innocent  (and  guilty) 
from  conviction  as  is  possible  for  any  human  institution ;  but  in 
securing  the  safety  and  order  of  the  community  by  the  conviction  of 
the  guilty,  it  is  woefMlJy  inadequate."  Judge  Carl  Nott  in  Coddling 
the  Criminal,  Atlantic  Monthly.  February,   191 1. 

2  Samuel  Scoville,  Jr.,  in  The  Evolution  of  Our  Criminal  Pro- 
cedure, .A.nnals  of  the  American  Academy  of  Political  and  Social 
Science,  March,  1914. 

31 


American  Police  Systems 

Of  these,  ten  committed  suicide  and  36  were  held  for 
trial.  Of  the  36,  only  three  were  convicted  at  all,  and 
of  these  only  one  for  murder  in  the  first  degree.^  In 
191 3  in  the  City  of  New  York  there  were  323  homicides, 
185  arrests  and  only  80  convictions.  Of  the  80  convic- 
tions, ten  received  death  sentences.  In  19 14  in  the  same 
city  there  were  292  homicides,  185  arrests  and  66  convic- 
tions. Of  the  66  convictions,  six  received  death  sen- 
tences.- In  19 1 7  in  New  York  there  were  236  homicides, 
280  arrests  and  67  convictions,  of  which  nine  received 
death  sentences.  In  19 18  in  the  same  city  there  were 
221  homicides,  256  arrests,  and  y"]  convictions,  of  which 
six  received  death  sentences.^  In  Detroit  during  the  fiscal 
year  191 7  there  were  89  murders,  104  arrests,  and  four- 
teen convictions;  in  the  fiscal  year  1918,  there  were  71 
murders,  147  arrests  and  22  convictions.*  The  annual 
homicide  calculations  of  the  Chicago  Tribune,  which,  after 
careful  checking,  seem  to  be  as  accurate  as  any  criminal 
statistics  can  be  under  our  present  system,  indicate  the 
following  facts  regarding  culpable  homicide  in  the  United 
States : ^ 

1  Reports  of  the  American  Bar  Association,  1908,  p.  495. 

2  See  Report  of  a  Study  of  the  Homicide  Records,  Nezu  York  Po- 
lice Department,  1913-14,  prepared  by  the  Bureau  of  Municipal  Re- 
search, March,  1915. 

3  See  annual  Report,  New  York  Police  Department,  igi8. 

■*  In  the  same  city  in  1917  there  were  843  robberies,  494  arrests 
and  115  convictions,  while  in  1918  there  were  688  robberies,  458  ar- 
rests, and  loi  convictions.  (See  Annual  Report  of  Detroit  Police, 
1918.) 

5  These  figures  are  exclusive  of  infanticide,  justifiable  and  ex- 
cusable homicide,  and  all  vehicular  and  other  accident  cases.  I  use 
these  figures  because  from  all  facts  which  I  can  secure  they  seem 
to  represent  an  understatement  rather  than  an  overstatement.  They 
are  substantially  supported  by  the  annual  homicide  analyses  of  Mr. 
Frederick  L.  Hoffman,  published  in  the  Spectator  (see,  for  example, 

32 


The  American  Problem 

Total  number  of  Total  number  of 

Year                        culpable  homicides  legal  executions 

1916    8,372  115 

1917    7.803  85 

1918    7,667  85 

In  England  the  situation  is  far  different.  Any  volume 
of  judicial  statistics  or  any  report  of  the  Police  Commis- 
sioner of  London  bears  out  the  contrast.  In  1904,  for 
example,  in  London  —  to  pick  up  a  random  report  — 
there  were  twenty  cases  of  premeditated  murder.  In  six 
the  perpetrators  committed  suicide ;  one  man  was  sent 
immediately  to  an  asylum,  and  one  escaped  to  Italy.  Of 
the  twelve  persons  arrested  and  brought  to  trial,  one  was 
acquitted,  five  were  adjudged  insane  and  confined  in  an 
asylum,  and  six  were  sentenced  to  death.  In  19 17  in  the 
same  city,  there  were  19  premeditated  murders.  Three 
cases  remained  unsolved ;  five  perpetrators  committed  sui- 
cide, and  eleven  were  arrested.  Of  the  eleven  arrests, 
there  were  eight  convictions.  In  the  whole  of  England 
and  Wales  for  19 16,  85  murders  were  committed  and  59 
people  arrested  in  connection  therewith  were  committed 
for  trial.  Fifty-three  trials  resulted  during  the  year. 
Twelve  of  the  accused  were  found  insane  on  arraignment 
and  were  confined ;  sixteen  were  found  guilty  but  were 
adjudged  insane  and  confined;  ten  were  acquitted,  and 
fifteen  were  sentenced  to  death. ^ 

It  was  from  England  that  we  borrowed  the  foundations 

Vol.  XCV,  No.  26).  No  more  emphatic  commentary  could  be  made 
upon  the  lamentable  condition  of  criminal  statistics  in  the  United 
States  than  the  bare  statement  that  calculations  such  as  these  arc 
not  based  upon  exact  information. 

^Judicial   Statistics   for   England  and   Wales,    1916. 

33 


American  Police  Systems 

of  our  criminal  system.  The  special  position  of  the  ac- 
cused, the  assumption  of  innocence  until  guilt  is  proved, 
our  jury  system,  in  fact  our  whole  attitude  and  point  of 
view  in  regard  to  the  man  on  trial,  are  of  English  origin, 
and  were  handed  down  from  generation  to  generation  be- 
fore they  were  carried  to  America.  It  is  an  inescapable 
conclusion,  however,  that  the  English  machine  works 
smoothly  and  effectively  while  ours  does  not.  A  para- 
sitic growth  of  technicality  and  intricacy  has  thwarted 
and  choked  our  whole  criminal  process. 

The  Delays  of  Justice. 

The  delays  of  the  courts  furnish  another  reason  for  the 
failure  of  our  administration  of  justice.  A  random  ex- 
amination of  almost  any  volume  of  appellate  court  de- 
cisions will  fully  substantiate  this  charge.  For  example, 
in  Illinois  one  Sam  Siracusa  was  tried  for  murder  in 
October,  191 3,  and  pleaded  guilty.  On  a  writ  of  error 
the  case  was  carried  to  the  Supreme  Court  of  Illinois 
where  judgment  was  affirmed  exactly  three  years  from 
the  date  of  conviction.  The  case  was  not  finally  disposed 
of  until  three  months  later  when  a  rehearing  was  denied.^ 
Dominick  Delfino  was  convicted  of  murder  in  Pennsyl- 
vania in  October,  1916.  One  year  and  three  months 
later  the  judgment  was  affirmed.^  In  New  York  Charles 
Sprague  was  convicted  of  murder  on  February  8,  19 12. 
Judgment  was  affirmed  by  the  Court  of  Appeals  four 
years  and  one  month  later.^  Oresto  Shilitano  in  the 
same  state  was  convicted  of  murder  on  March  6,  19 14. 

1275  111.  457.  3  217  N.  Y.  273- 

2259  Pa.  State  272. 

34 


The  American  Problem 

Judgment  was  affirmed  two  years  and  two  months  later.'' 
Similarly,  Leo  Urban  was  found  guilty  in  New  York  of 
robbery  in  the  first  degree  on  December  14,  191 5.  Judg- 
ment was  affirmed  by  the  Court  of  Appeals  July  3,  19 17.- 
These  are  not  unusual  cases.  They  are  picked  at  random 
from  miscellaneous  law  reports. 

A  study  of  criminal  court  dockets  brings  similar  re- 
sults. For  example  —  to  cite  a  single  case  out  of  many 
at  hand  —  one  Ben  Kuzios  was  indicted  in  Chicago  on 
May  16,  1 91 7,  for  assault  with  intent  to  rob.  He  was 
found  guilty  on  July  25,  19 17,  a  motion  for  a  new  trial 
was  over-ruled,  and  he  was  sentenced  to  the  penitentiary. 
A  week  later  his  attorney  entered  another  motion  for  a 
new  trial  and  the  prisoner  was  released  on  bail.  The 
transcript  from  the  docket  tells  the  rest  of  the  story : 

Aug.  24,  1917  —  motion  for  new  trial  continued  to  Octo- 
ber term. 

Nov.  3,  1917  —  motion  for  new  trial  continued  to  Nov.  7, 
1917. 

Nov.  7,  1917  —  motion  for  new  trial  continued  to  Nov.  14, 
1917. 

Nov.  14,  1917  —  motion  for  new  trial  continued  to  Nov. 
28,  1917. 

Nov.  28,  1917  —  bail  forfeiture  and  capias  issued. 

Oct.  22,  1918  —  motion  for  new  trial  continued  to  Nov. 
12,  1918. 

Nov.  26,  1918  —  order  of  court,  cause  off  call. 

Jan.  29,  1919  —  order  of  court,  cause  set  for  Feb.  i,  1910- 

Feb.  I,  1919  —  motion  new  trial  granted.  Prisoner  re- 
leased on  $500.00  bail. 

1  218  N.  Y.  161.  236  N.  Y.  Crim.  70. 

35 


American  Police  Systems 

Feb.  i8,  1919  —  judgment  in  bond  forfeiture,  heretofore 

entered,  set  aside  by  order  of  county  commissioners; 

costs  paid. 
Sept.  22,  1919  —  on  motion  of  defendant,  cause  continued 

to  October  21,  19 19. 
Oct.  22,  1919  —  by  agreement  cause  continued  to  Oct.  30, 

1919. 
Nov.  6,  1919 —  former  verdict  of  guilty  set  aside.^ 

Records  of  this  kind  are  not  exceptional.  They  are 
commonplace  occurrences  with  which  every  prosecuting 
attorney  is  familiar. 

Radically  different  is  the  situation  in  Great  Britain. 
Under  the  English  law  appeals  to  the  Court  of  Criminal 
Appeal  must  be  taken  within  ten  days  after  conviction. 
Ordinarily  the  court  renders  its  decision  in  from  seven- 
teen to  twenty-one  days,  although  in  murder  cases  in- 
volving the  death  penalty  this  period  is  often  shortened. 
An  appeal  never  postpones  execution  in  a  capital  case 
by  more  than  three  weeks.  Thus,  William  Wright  was 
convicted  of  murder  at  the  London  Assizes  on  Febru- 
ary 2,  1920;  his  appeal  was  filed  on  February  10,  was 
denied  on  February  23,  and  he  was  hanged  on  March 
10.  George  Lucas  was  convicted  of  murder  on  January 
15,  1920;  his  appeal  was  filed  on  January  17  and  was 
dismissed  on  February  2.  Andrew  Fraser  was  convicted 
of  murder  on  February  19,  1920;  his  appeal  was  filed  on 
February  2^  and  was  denied  on  March  8.^ 

1  Records  of  the  clerk  of  the  Criminal  Court,  Docket  11,413.  This 
transcript  and  many  others  of  similar  nature  have  been  published  in 
the  bulletins  of  the  Chicago  Crime  Coviinission  during  1919  and  1920. 

•  The  Court  of  Criminal  Appeal,  which  was  established  in  1907, 
sits  in  London  with  jurisdiction  over  England  and  Wales.     (7  Edw. 

36 


The  American  Problem 

In  this  fashion  it  would  be  possible  to  quote  case  after 
case  from  the  records  which  the  Registrar  of  the  Court  of 
Criminal  Appeal  kindly  placed  at  the  writer's  disposal. 
One  gets  the  impression  of  a  swiftly  moving,  silent  ma- 
chine—  the  embodiment  of  the  certainty  of  justice  in 
England. 

The  same  impression  is  gained  by  one  who  watches  the 
conduct  of  English  criminal  trials.  The  business  of 
choosing  a  jury  is  a  matter  of  minutes  only.^     The  judge 

7.  ch.  23).  It  is  composed  of  the  Lord  Chief  Justice  of  England 
and  eight  judges  of  the  King's  Bench  Division  of  the  High  Court. 
The  following  table  shows  convictions  quashed  and  sentences  re- 
duced by  the  Court  of  Criminal  Appeal  from  its  inauguration  to 
date.     The  figures  for  1915  and  1916  are  not  available. 


Convictions 

Sentences 

Year 

Appellants 

quashed 

reduced 

1909 

627 

27 

39 

1910 

706 

39 

42 

1911 

679 

25 

31 

1912 

664 

30 

17 

1913 

655 

31 

47 

1914 

554 

^5 

35 

1917 

299 

16 

16 

1918 

285 

10 

21 

1919 

355 

17 

17 

The  word  "  appellants  "  includes  all  persons  who  have  appealed  either 
against  their  conviction  on  a  point  of  law  or  against  their  sentence 
as  of  right,  or  who  have  applied  to  the  court  for  leave  to  appeal 
against  conviction  or  against  sentence,  or  against  both  conviction  and 
sentence.  There  have  been  a  very  few  cases  where  the  sentence  has 
been  increased  by  order  of  the  Court  of  Criminal  Appeal,  although  in 
most  cases  where  an  unsuccessful  application  for  leave  to  appeal  is 
made  to  the  court,  the  time  from  the  signing  of  the  notice  of  appeal 
to  the  final  refusal  of  leave  to  appeal  docs  not  count  as  part  of  the 
sentence  of  the  appellant,  and  so  his  term  of  imprisonment  is  auto- 
matically  increased  to  that  extent. 

1  In  New  York  when  Thaw  was  tried,  and  in  Tennessee  when  the 
murderers  of  Senator  Carmack  were  at  the  bar,  weeks  elapsed  in 
choosing  a  jury.  In  the  selection  of  a  jury  to  try  Calhoun  in  San 
Francisco,  91  days  were  consumed.  To  obtain  a  jury  to  try  Cor- 
nelius Shea  in  Chicago,  9,425  jurymen  were  summoned,  of  whom 
4,821  were  examined,  the  cost  of  jury  fees  alone  being  more  than 
$13,000.     See  Storey,  loc.  cit..  p.  210. 

37 


American  Police  Systems 

takes  an  astonishingly  prominent  part  in  the  proceedings 
in  a  manner  that  an  American  judge  would  scarcely  dare 
do,  examining  witnesses,  instructing  counsel  and  openly 
exerting  his  influence  to  guide  the  jury.  He  does  not 
hesitate  to  comment  upon  the  failure  of  a  defendant  to 
take  the  stand  in  his  own  behalf,  and  his  general  conduct 
of  the  case  is  such  that  in  almost  any  state  in  the  Union 
there  would  be  no  difficulty  in  securing  a  reversal  by  an 
appellate  court  on  any  one  of  a  dozen  technical  points. 
The  unrestricted  flow  of  objections  to  questions  by  op- 
posing counsel  on  the  grounds  of  irrelevancy,  incompe- 
tency and  immateriality  which  forms  so  conspicuous  a 
part  of  an  American  trial,  is  surprisingly  absent.  The 
proceedings  are  direct,  simple  and  even  colloquial.  They 
would  be  intelligible  to  a  layman.  There  are  no  hypo- 
thetical questions,  no  haggling  over  the  admission  of  evi- 
dence. Counsel  on  both  sides  give  the  appearance  of 
striving  to  arrive  at  the  truth  by  the  quickest  and  most 
direct  route.  On  direct  examination  the  questions  of  the 
attorneys  are  often  "  leading  "  questions  and  are  put  with- 
out objection.  Thus  they  do  not  hesitate  to  ask  their 
witnesses  such  questions  as  this  :  "  Did  you  look  through 
the  door  and  see  the  defendant  speaking  with  Williams, 
and  after  a  few  seconds  did  you  see  him  fire  a  shot?" 
In  an  American  trial  it  would  take  a  dozen  questions  and 
answers  to  elicit  this  information,  and  each  of  them  would 
likely  involve  objection  and  argument. 

Briefly,  our  criminal  procedure  not  only  -makes  delay 
possible  but  encourages  it.  Our  methods  are  formal, 
diffuse,  and  inflexible;  we  are  enmeshed  in  technicalities 
which  we  revere  as  the  attributes  of  justice,  confusing 

38 


The  American  Problem 

them  with  the  essentials  of  a  criminal  system.  We  do 
not  seem  to  realize  that  simplicity,  directness  and  a  mod- 
erate degree  of  speed  are  consistent  with  fair,  impartial 
trials. 

Faulty  Personnel. 

Another  contributing  factor  in  the  failure  of  our  ad- 
ministration of  justice  lies  in  the  poor  quality  of  some 
of  our  magistrates  and  prosecuting  officers.  On  no  point 
are  policemen  throughout  the  country  so  unanimous  as 
in  their  emphatically  expressed  opinion  that  they  are  not 
fairly  or  properly  supported  by  the  prosecuting  attorneys 
and  the  courts.  And  it  must  be  admitted  that  the  charge 
is  not  without  considerable  substantiation.  From  Massa- 
chusetts comes  the  authenticated  story  of  the  county  at- 
torney who  on  the  last  day  of  his  term  quashed  200  cases 
without  consulting  the  complainant  officers.  From  the 
police  in  many  other  states  there  are  allegations,  often 
with  specifications,  of  prosecuting  attorneys  conniving  at 
the  acquittal  or  inadequate  punishment  of  criminals.  In- 
dictments remain  untried  and  accumulate  on  the  calendars 
of  the  courts,  often  dating  back  as  far  as  three  and  four 
years,  with  the  result  that  witnesses  leave  the  jurisdiction 
and  evidence  disappears.  The  abuse  and  misuse  of  the 
bail  system  are  notorious.^     Cases  are  often  postponed  to 

1  As  illustrative  of  the  abuse  of  the  bail  system,  the  Grand  Jury  of 
Cook  County,  111.,  in  May,  1919,  handed  down  a  presentment  in  part 
as  follows :  "  One  of  the  most  aggravated  cases  we  have  handled  was 
the  case  of  three  notorious  criminals  who  were  indicted  by  this 
grand  jury  for  robbery  and  hold-ups  committed  while  out  on  bail. 
We  fixed  the  bail  at  $25,000.00  in  each  case.  When  we  handed 
these  indictments  to  the  judge  we  also  requested  him  to  prevent 
any  reduction  in  the  amount  of  the  bail.  In  addition  to  the  above, 
we  asked  i.ic  state  attorney's  office  to  fight  any  reduction  of  the  bail 

39 


American  Police  Systems 

wear  out  the  patience  of  the  police.  "  There  are  in- 
stances on  record,"  said  former  Police  Commissioner 
Woods  of  New  York,  "  where  a  case  has  been  postponed 
and  re-postponed  until  the  patrolman  has  been  obliged  to 
come  to  court  twenty-six  times  before  it  actually  was 
called  to  trial."  ^ 

Illustrations  of  this  laxity  and  neglect  are  legion.  For 
example,  on  February  lo,  191 1,  Thomas  Chap,  a  bar- 
tender in  Chicago,  shot  and  killed  a  seventeen  year  old 
boy.  Chap  admitted  the  shooting  and  justified  his  act 
by  accusing  his  victim  of  striking  matches  on  the  bar-top 
and  of  kicking  a  dog.  He  was  indicted  for  murder  on 
March  4,  191 1.  On  April  7,  191 1,  he  was  released  on 
$10,000  bail.  No  further  record  of  his  case  appears 
until  1916,  when  the  docket  shows  the  following: 

March  20,  1916  —  case  continued  to  April  17,  1916. 
April  17,  1916  —  continued  to  May  term. 
(Another  gap  in  the  record.) 
Jan.  23,  1918  —  continued  to  March  4,  1918. 
March  28,  1918  —  continued  to  April  22,  1918, 
April  22,  1918  —  continued  to  May  13,  1918. 
May  13,  1918  —  cause  off  call,  order  of  court. 
Sept.  23,  1919  —  on  motion  of  State''s  Attorney,  cause  re- 
instated. 
Sept.  2^,  1919  —  capias  order  issued. 

of  these  notorious  criminals.  Two  members  of  the  state's  attorney's 
office  fought  this  reduction  to  the  limit.  Notwithstanding  our  rec- 
ommendations and  their  efforts,  within  a  day  or  two  we  learned  that 
the  amount  of  the  bond  had  been  reduced  from  $25,000.00  to 
$10,000.00  in  each  of  the  three  cases,  and  that  these  men  were  again 
at  large  in  the  community  and  able  to  continue  their  depredations 
on  the  public.  We  believe  that  bail  for  persons  having  a  record 
of  crime  should  be  made  extremely  difficult." 
1  In  a  public  address  delivered  in  1916.    Manuscript  unpublished. 

40 


The  American  Problem 

Nov.  12,  1919  —  on.  motion  of  State's  Attorney  continued 
to  Nov.  17,  1919. 

Nov.  13,  1919  —  by  agreement  bond  reduced  to  $7,500. 

Nov.  17,  1919  —  on  motion  of  State's  Attorney  set  for 
December  i,  1919. 

Dec.  I,  1919  —  plea  of  not  guilty  entered,  jury  trial. 
Jury  sworn ;  testimony  heard  in  part. 

Dec.  2,  1919  —  further  testimony  heard  ;  jury  returns  ver- 
dict of  ''  not  guilty."  ^ 

In  some  jurisdictioYis,  moreover,  it  is  not  unusual  for 
committing  magistrates  to  throw  cases  out  of  court  for 
frivolous  and  sometimes  capricious  reasons  —  because 
the  officer  is  late,  or  because  his  hand-writing  on  the  com- 
plaint is  poor,  or  because  his  coat  is  unbuttoned.  Often, 
too,  the  sentences  imposed  are  absurdly  inadequate.  Dan- 
gerous criminals  with  long  records  are  returned  to  civil 
life  after  undergoing  minimum  punishment.  Sometimes 
they  escape  punishment  altogether.  Occasionally  this  is 
the  work  of  politics;  -  more  often  it  is  due  to  haste  and 
carelessness  or  to  a  failure  on  the  part  of  the  magis- 
trates to  realize  the  true  significance  of  the  struggle  of 
society  against  crime.  ''  One  of  the  most  discouraging 
things  about  police  work,"  former  Commissioner 
O'^Ieara  of  Boston  told  me,  "  is  to  work  for  weeks  and 
months  getting  evidence  on  a  particular  case  only  to  have 

^  Grand  Jury  No.  137 ;  P.  G.  D.  No.  95,897 ;  Term  No.  2,459 ;  and 
General  No.  84.  This  and  other  similar  cases  taken  from  the  rec- 
ords of  the  Criminal  Court  Clerk  in  Chicago  are  published  in  the 
Bulletin  of  the  Chicago  Crime  Cotnniission  of  Dec.  20,  1919. 

-  Anyone  who  would  see  the  American  judicial  system  at  its  worst 
and  lowest  should  read  the  report  of  the  Congressional  investigation 
of  the  negro  riots  in  East  St.  Louis.  (65th  Congress,  2nd  Session, 
Document   1,231,  July  5,   1918.) 

41 


American  Police  Systems 

the  court  let  the  defendant  off  with  a  $25  fine.  Then 
we  have  to  begin  our  work  all  over  again."  The  annual 
report  of  the  General  Superintendent  of  Police  of  Chicago 
for  1910  carries  a  paragraph  equally  significant: 

"  An  honest  effort  has  been  made  to  reduce  all  gam- 
bling to  a  minimum,  and  many  arrests  and  raids  have 
been  made,  and  the  best  results  have  been  obtained  that 
were  possible  under  existing  conditions.  The  average 
fine  for  gambling  was  $4.20."  ^ 

Moreover  the  decisions  of  the  courts  are  often  based 
on  ignorance.  In  New  York  in  191 5  a  man  well  known 
to  the  police  was  arrested  for  having  concealed  on  his 
person  a  burglar's  "  jimmy  "  and  a  flashlight.  He  was 
immediately  discharged  by  the  magistrate  on  the  ground 
that  intent  to  use  these  tools  was  not  established.  An- 
other suspicious  person,  arrested  with  skeleton  keys  in  his 
possession,  was  similarly  discharged.^  Cases  of  this  kind 
can  be  duplicated  in  other  cities.  In  191 1  in  New  York, 
a  judge  of  the  Court  of  General  Sessions  frequently  di- 
rected juries  to  acquit  defendants  because  of  the  alleged 
misconduct  of  the  prosecuting  attorney  or  of  witnesses. 
For  example,  in  one  such  case,  in  which  two  men  were 
on  trial  for  burglary,  the  district  attorney  wanted  to 
show  that  when  arrested  the  men  had  dropped  a  "  jimmy  " 
which  was  later  found  exactly  to  fit  the  marks  on  the 
door  of  the  premises  in  question.  The  following  col- 
loquy ensued : 

1  P.  8.     The  italics  are  mine. 

2  Cases  of  Proctor  and  Rentz  in  the  Magistrate's  Court  in  Janu- 
ary. 1915- 

42 


The  American  Problem 

The  District  Attorney:  Q.  (To  Detective  Murray)  Did 
you  ever  take  this  jimmy  upstairs  into  the  building? 

The  Court:  How  is  that  material?  I  will  sustain  an 
objection. 

The  District  Attorney:  I  want  to  show  that  the  jimmy 
marks  fitted  into  the  door. 

The  Court :  In  view  of  the  statement  made  by  you  I  will 
direct  the  jury  to  render  a  verdict  of  not  guilty. 

The  District  Attorney :  I  stated  it  in  my  opening.  I 
could  n't  prove  it  in  any  other  way.  The  officer  went 
back  and  fitted  it. 

The  Court :  The  officer  did  not  go  back  in  time.  You 
have  no  right  to  repeat  that  now  so  I  sustain  the  objec- 
tion. Sit  down.  I  direct  a  verdict  of  acquittal  for  im- 
proper conduct  of  the  district  attorney  in  the  trial  of  the 
case.^ 

Comment  in  cases  such  as  these  is  superfluous.  They 
are  cited  only  because  they  illustrate  some  of  the  diffi- 
culties under  which  our  police  are  laboring  in  their  un- 
equal fight  with  crime. 

Attitude  of  the  Public. 

The  weak  sentimentality  of  the  community  in  relation 
to  crime  and  the  criminal  is  a  final  factor  in  the  failure  of 
our  administration  of  justice  which  cannot  be  overlooked. 
Offenders  go  unpunished  and  the  laws  are  used  as  a 
shield  for  crime  because  such  laxity  is  after  all  in  sub- 
stantial accord  with  public  opinion,  or  at  least  with  that 
element  of  public  opinion  which  follows  the  daily  news- 

^  People  z>s.  Ristino,  p.  i8.  For  a  discussion  of  this  and  other 
cases,  see  report  dated  ^Iay  23,  1912,  submitted  to  the  Mayor  of  New 
York  by  the  present  writer  when  serving  as  Commissioner  of  Ac- 
counts of  New  York. 

43 


American  Police  Systems 

paper  stories  of  our  criminal  courts.  Our  hereditary 
sympathies  are  for  the  under-dog,  for  the  man  who  is 
down  and  out,  and  the  criminal  is  too  frequently  pictured 
as  being  only  the  victim  of  hard  luck  or  a  bad  environ- 
ment, fighting  for  his  life  or  freedom  against  the  power- 
fully organized,  impersonal  forces  of  the  commonwealth. 
Sometimes  this  sentiment  is  little  short  of  maudlin,  and 
the  man  whose  crime  has  been  picturesque  or  unusual  be- 
comes in  public  imagination,  if  not  a  hero,  at  least  a  very 
interesting  character,  in  the  discussion  of  whose  case  the 
rights  of  society  and  the  claims  of  justice  are  lost  sight  of. 
Sensational  publicity  whets  the  popular  interest;  the  sor- 
did details  of  the  crime  and  its  motive  are  blazoned  in 
hysterical  headlines.  The  attorneys  issue  or  inspire  state- 
ments in  the  press,  presenting  their  proofs  of  innocence 
or  innuendoes  of  guilt,  and  long  before  the  case  is  tried, 
public  sympathy  is  vociferously  arrayed  on  one  side  or 
the  other.  In  three  different  parts  of  the  country  I  was 
told  by  prosecuting  attorneys  that  it  was  impossible 
to  secure  the  conviction  of  a  woman  for  murder,  no  mat- 
ter how  conclusive  the  evidence.  "  It  is  not  considered 
a  fair  sporting  proposition,''  one  such  official  said. 
"  Every  important  case  in  which  a  conviction  is  obtained 
brings  me  a  flood  of  letters  urging  clemency,"  a  western 
judge  told  me.  And  he  added :  "  Often  the  letters  pre- 
cede the  conviction." 

This  false  perspective — this  irrational  public  attitude 
which  first  shrieks  for  the  punishment  of  the  perpetrator 
and  then  seeks  to  find  excuses  for  his  act  and  reasons  for 
his  pardon  —  has  done  much  to  vitiate  the  restraints  of 

44 


The  American  Problem 

the  law  and  weaken  its  administration.  "  The  evidence 
shows  that  Anton  Jindra's  treatment  of  her  was  most 
tantahzing,  annoying  and  brutal;  and  because  of  this  we 
believe  the  said  Pauline  Plotka  should  be  given  the  benefit 
of  the  doubt,  and  we.  the  jury,  recommend  that  she  be 
released  from  custody."  ^  This  verdict,  handed  down 
by  a  coroner's  jury  in  Chicago  in  the  case  of  the  murder 
of  a  man  by  his  sweetheart,  is  typical  of  the  atmosphere 
of  false  public  sentiment  in  which  criminal  justice  is  ad- 
ministered in  the  United  vStates.  In  Indianapolis  in  1919 
a  negro  shot  and  killed  another  following  a  quarrel  over 
a  girl.  Upon  apprehension  the  perpetrator  admitted  the 
act.  but  was  freed  by  the  Grand  Jury  presumably  upon 
the  ground  of  justification  in  shooting  a  trespassing  rival. 
Upon  release  from  custody  he  called  at  the  coroner's  office 
to  get  his  pistol  which  he  had  left  beside  the  body  of  his 
victim  and  which  had  been  held  as  evidence." 

These  are  not  isolated  instances.  While  more  preva- 
lent in  some  parts  of  the  country  than  in  others,  they  can 
be  duplicated  in  almost  every  jurisdiction.  They  are 
typical  of  the  maladjustment  of  our  attitude  toward  crime. 
"  We  have  three  classes  of  homicide,"  I  was  told  by  the 
chief  of  detectives  in  a  large  southern  city.  "  If  a  nigger 
kills  a  white  man,  that  's  murder.  If  a  white  man  kills 
a  nigger,  that's  justifiable  homicide.  If  a  nigger  kills 
another  nigger,  that  's  one  less  nigger."  While  of 
course  brutally  exaggerated,  the  statement  is  none  the  less 

1  New  York  Times,  February  28,  igi8. 

-  Personally  communicated  by  the  coroner  of  Marion  County,  In- 
diana. The  investigator  happened  to  be  in  the  coroner's  office  at  the 
moment  when  the  negro  called  for  his  pistol. 

45 


American  Police  Systems 

too  nearly  a  correct  portrayal  of  the  actual  condition  of 
public  opinion  in  many  parts  of  the  country  to  be  alto- 
gether or  even  largely  discounted. 

Crime  is  an  offense  not  only  against  the  individual  vic- 
tim but  against  the  whole  structure  of  society.  Until 
public  opinion  adjusts  its  own  point  of  view  on  these 
matters  we  cannot  expect  our  courts  to  reflect  anything 
better. 

In  discussing  these  four  phases  of  the  administration 
of  justice  in  America  —  our  technical  criminal  procedure, 
the  long  delays  and  the  uncertainty  of  punishment,  the 
badly  chosen  personnel  on  the  bench  and  in  the  depart- 
ment of  the  prosecuting  attorney,  and  finally  the  unhealthy 
state  of  public  opinion  toward  crime  and  the  criminal  — 
the  aim  has  been  to  emphasize  the  point,  too  often  over- 
looked, that  our  police  suffer  from  connection  with  a 
system  that  has  all  but  broken  down.  From  time  to 
time,  in  our  indignation  at  the  obvious  growth  of  crime, 
we  rise  up  and  cry  out  at  the  police.  Why  are  they  not 
at  their  business?  Why  do  they  not  succeed?  The  an- 
swer is  obvious.  The  task  before  us  is  far  greater  than 
the  regeneration  of  our  police.  It  is  the  regeneration  of 
our  whole  system  of  administering  justice  and  the  cre- 
ation of  a  sound  public  attitude  toward  crime. 

IV.       UNENFORCEABLE   LAWS 

A  final  disadvantage  under  which  American  police  de- 
partments are  laboring  is  to  be  found  in  the  presence  on 
our  statute  books  of  laws  which,  because  they  interfere 
with  customs  widely  practised  and  widely  regarded  as 

46 


The  American  Problem 

innocent,  are  fundamentally  unenforceable.  The  willing- 
ness with  which  we  undertake  to  regulate  by  law  the  per- 
sonal habits  of  private  citizens  is  a  source  of  perpetual 
astonishment  to  Europeans.  In  no  country  in  Europe, 
with  the  exception  of  Germany,  is  an  attempt  ever  made 
to  enforce  standards  of  conduct  which  do  not  meet  with 
general  public  approval,  or.  at  the  behest  of  what  may 
be  a  minority,  to  bring  a  particular  code  of  behavior 
within  the  scope  of  criminal  legislation.  With  us,  how- 
ever, every  year  adds  its  accretion  to  our  sumptuary  laws. 
It  suits  the  judgment  of  some  and  the  temper  of  others 
to  convert  into  crimes  practices  which  they  deem  mischie- 
\ous  or  unethical.  They  resort  to  law  to  supply  the  de- 
ficiencies of  other  agencies  of  social  control.  They  at- 
tempt to  govern  by  means  of  law  things  which  in  their 
nature  do  not  admit  of  objective  treatment  and  external 
coercion.  "  Nothing  is  more  attractive  to  the  benevolent 
vanity  of  men,"  said  James  Coolidge  Carter,  "  than  the 
notion  that  they  can  effect  great  improvement  in  society 
by  the  simple  process  of  forbidding  all  wrong  conduct, 
or  conduct  which  they  think  is  wrong,  by  law,  and  of 
enjoining  all  good  conduct  by  the  same  means."  ^ 

It  is  to  this  temptation  and  to  this  fallacy  that  our  legis- 
latures habitually  succumb.  The  views  of  particular 
groups  of  people  on  questions  of  private  conduct  are 
made  the  legal  requirements  of  the  State.  We  are  sur- 
rounded by  penal  laws  whose  only  purpose  is  to  enforce 

^  Law:  Its  Origin,  Growth  and  Function.  New  York,  igoo,  p.  221. 
See,  too,  The  Limits  of  Effective  Legal  Actioii,  an  address  by  Roscoe 
Pound  before  the  Pennsylvania  Bar  Association,  June  27,  1916  (a 
pamphlet)  ;  and  The  End  of  Law  as  Developed  in  Legal  Rules  and 
Doctrines,  by  the  same  author,  in  2j  Harvard  L.  Rev.  195. 

47 


American  Police  Systems 

by  threat  certain  standards  of  morality.  We  are  hedged 
about  by  arbitrary  regulations,  which,  while  they  may 
have  at  one  time  perhaps  satisfied  the  consciences  of  those 
responsible  for  them,  no  longer  represent  community  pub- 
lic opinion,  or  at  best  represent  only  a  portion  of  it. 
These  regulations  have  not  grown  as  we  have  grown  and 
they  do  not  ease  up  as  we  push  the  whole  social  weight 
against  them.  Indeed  this  presents  one  of  the  strange 
anomalies  in  American  life:  with  an  intolerance  for  au- 
thority and  an  emphasis  upon  individual  rights,  more  pro- 
nounced, perhaps,  than  in  any  other  nation,  we  are,  of  all 
people,  not  even  excepting  the  Germans,  pre-eminently 
addicted  to  the  habit  of  standardizing  by  law  the  lives 
and  morals  of  our  citizens.  Nowhere  in  the  world  is 
there  so  great  an  anxiety  to  place  the  moral  regulation 
of  social  affairs  in  the  hands  of  the  police,  and  nowhere 
are  the  police  so  incapable  of  carrying  out  such  regula- 
tion. Our  concern,  moreover,  is  for  externals,  for  re- 
sults that  are  formal  and  apparent  rather  than  essential. 
We  are  less  anxious  about  preventing  a  man  from  doing 
wrong  to  others  than  in  preventing  him  from  doing  what 
we  consider  harm  to  himself.  We  like  to  pass  laws  to 
compel  the  individual  to  do  as  we  think  he  ought  to  do 
for  his  own  good.  We  attack  symptoms  rather  than 
causes  and  in  doing  so  we  create  a  species  of  moralistic 
despotism  which  overrides  the  private  conscience  and  de- 
stroys liberty  where  liberty  is  most  precious. 

From  this  condition  arises  one  of  the  most  embarrass- 
ing phases  of  the  whole  question  of  law  enforcement. 
Mayors,  administrations  and  police  forces  are  more  often 
and  more  successfully  attacked  from  this  point  than  from 

48 


The  American  Problem 

any  other,  and  the  consequences  are  corrupted  pohcemen 
and  shuffling  executives  who  give  the  best  excuse  they 
can  think  of  at  the  moment  for  faihng  to  do  the  impossi- 
ble, but  are  able  to  add  nothing  to  the  situation  but  a 
sense  of  their  own  perplexity.  Of  all  the  cities  visited 
by  the  writer,  there  was  scarcely  one  that  did  not  bear 
evidence  of  demoralization  arising  from  attempts  to  en- 
force laws  which  instead  of  representing  the  will  of  the 
community,  represented  hardly  anybody's  will.  "  I  am 
always  between  two  fires,"  the  chief  of  police  in  New 
Orleans  told  me.  "  If  I  should  enforce  the  law  against 
selling  tobacco  on  Sunday,  I  would  be  run  out  of  office 
in  twenty-four  hours.  But  I  am  in  constant  danger  of 
being  run  out  of  office  because  I  don't  enforce  it."  xA.t  the 
time  of  my  visit  to  New  Orleans  the  enforcement  of  this 
particular  law  was  in  a  state  of  compromise  by  which 
green  curtains  were  hung  to  conceal  the  tobacco  stands  on 
Sunday.  The  curtains  served  the  double  purpose  of  ad- 
vertising the  location  of  the  stands  and  of  protecting  the 
virtue  of  the  citizens  from  visions  of  evil! 

It  is  this  sort  of  hypocrisy  that  one  encounters  every- 
where, and  the  number  of  such  statutes  is  legion,  most  of 
them  honored  in  the  breach  or  perhaps  in  some  compro- 
mise that  brings  the  law  and  its  administration  into  public 
contempt.  "  There  has  never  been  serious  attempt  to 
modify  our  strict  Sunday  laws,"  I  was  told  by  the  prose- 
cuting attorney  in  a  large  southern  city.  "  In  the  first 
place  it  is  n't  necessary  because  the  laws  are  n't  enforced, 
and  in  the  second  place  any  attempt  to  modify  them  would 
meet  with  determined  opposition  from  our  good  people." 
This  happy  philosophy  fails  to  take  account  of  the  spas- 

49 


American  Police  Systems 

modic  efforts  on  the  part  of  the  good  people  to  enforce 
the  laws.  One  constantly  comes  across  such  situations 
as  the  following  newspaper  item  portrays : 

"Aberdeen.  Miss.,  April  15.— The  W.  C.  T.  U.  is 
seeking  to  have  all  soda  fountains  closed  on  Sunday  in 
the  future.  This  was  done  once  before  but  it  did  not 
last.  The  W.  C.  T.  U.  officials  say  they  are  going  to 
hold  this  time  and  that  they  intend  to  see  that  the  law 
is  carried  out  to  the  letter  and  that  every  violator  is 
prosecuted  to  full  extent."  ^ 

Most  chiefs  of  police  confess  frankly  that  in  these 
cases  they  do  not  act  except  upon  specific  complaint. 
"  And  then  we  have  to  act,"  said  one  chief,  "  but  of 
course  nothing  ever  comes  of  it  because  judges  and  juries 
will  not  convict."  Said  a  criminal  court  judge  in  Ken- 
tucky :  "  On  ample  evidence  furnished  by  a  Church  Fed- 
eration I  placed  several  cases  of  Sunday  violations  before 
the  Grand  Juries  of  IMarch,  April,  May,  June,  Septem- 
ber, October  and  November,  191 5.  Not  a  single  indict- 
ment was  returned.  It  is  my  experience  that  prosecutors, 
judges  and  juries  will  not  convict  people  of  crime 
for  doing  things  that  are  the  community  habit  and  prac- 
tice." 2 

A  county  solicitor  from  Alabama  writes  me  as  follows : 
"  While  we  have  a  statute  making  it  unlawful  to  play  ten- 
nis and  golf  on  Sunday  there  is  no  effort  made  to  enforce 
it.  A  great  deal  of  effort  has  been  made  in  the  past  to 
convict  negroes  for  playing  cards  on  Sunday,  but  this  has 

1  Birmingham  Agc-Hcrald,  April   i6,   1915. 

2  Personally  communicated. 

50 


The  American  Problem 

been  due  to  the  fee  system,  and  has  been  looked  upon  with 
disfavor  by  both  courts  and  juries."  ^ 

Clearly  it  is  a  bungling  arrangement  which  leaves  a 
borderland  between  the  live  and  the  dead  law  to  be  ex- 
plored at  the  discretion  of  individual  officers.  Our  police 
departments  are  torn  apart  by  constant  controversies  as 
to  the  existence  and  location  of  this  shadowy  area.  Re- 
cently in  Baltimore,  the  police  suddenly  descended  in  a 
series  of  raids  to  arrest  all  violators  of  the  Sunday  law. 
One  hundred  and  thirteen  people  were  taken  into  custody 
in  one  day  and  227,  summonses  were  served.  Those  ar- 
rested included  druggists,  drivers  of  ice-cream  trucks, 
barbers,  and  bakery-shop  keepers.  Two  men  were  ar- 
rested for  balancing  their  books  in  their  own  homes. 
Selling  a  child  a  stick  of  candy  constituted  a  heinous 
offense  and  the  buying  of  a  piece  of  chewing  gum  or  a 
loaf  of  bread  caused  the  arrest  of  the  store-keeper.  One 
man  was  arrested  for  painting  the  gate  in  his  back  yard. 
Policemen  did  not  hesitate  to  approach  a  man  who  hap- 
pened to  be  smoking  a  cigar  and  question  him  as  to  how 
he  came  in  its  possession.  If  satisfactory  answers  were 
not  forthcoming  the  man  was  arrested.  Efforts  were 
made  to  persuade  the  police  to  allow  a  few  men  to  con- 
tinue working  in  a  garage  on  the  ground  that  a  hundred 
motor  trucks  stored  there  would  freeze  if  not  attended 
to.  The  police,  however,  refused,  and  two  arrests  were 
made  of  men  who  attempted  to  preserve  their  property." 
"  This  satire  upon  religious  observance,"  said  the  Balti- 
more American,  "  bore  no  fruit  of  holiness,  but  on  the 

1  Letter  dated  May  8,  1915. 

2  Sec  Baltimore  newspapers  for  December  i,  1919. 

51 


American  Police  Systems 

contrary  fermented  bitter  feeling  and  vindictiveness. 
The  public  was  strained  almost  to  the  verge  of  physical 
violence.  The  arrests  v^^ere  a  disgrace  to  the  city,  and 
even  the  policemen  who  under  orders  made  them,  and  the 
magistrates  who  held  the  preliminary  hearings,  shrank 
with  disgust  from  the  tasks  that  were  laid  upon  them."  ^ 

Equally  ludicrous  results  follow  everywhere  from  legis- 
lative incursions  into  the  sphere  of  morals.  In  Massa- 
chusetts where  golf-playing  on  Sunday  is  illegal,  a  cer- 
tain golf  course  lies  partly  in  one  township  and  partly  in 
another.  The  authorities  in  one  jurisdiction  enforce  the 
law;  the  authorities  in  the  other  do  not.  Consequently 
on  Sunday  the  members  are  limited  in  their  play  to  the 
holes  in  the  "  liberal  "  township.  In  Tennessee  the  law 
against  the  sale  of  cigarettes  is  enforced  in  Nashville  and 
disregarded  in  Memphis.  In  Alabama  the  law  against 
Sunday  golf  and  tennis  is  nowhere  enforced,  while  the 
law  against  Sunday  baseball  is  enforced  only  in  Birming- 
ham. In  New  Orleans  at  the  time  of  my  visit  a  police- 
man was  stationed  every  evening  in  each  of  fourteen 
cabarets  where  liquor  was  sold.  These  officers  were  on 
duty  from  8  p.  m.  to  4  a.  m.  except  on  Saturday  nights, 
when  they  were  withdrawn  at  midnight  for  the  reason, 
as  stated  to  me  by  the  commissioner,  that  their  presence 
in  the  cabarets  after  midnight  "  might  seem  to  counte- 
nance the  violation  of  the  Sunday  liquor  law  " ! 

Often  the  laws  are  such  as  to  defy  enforcement  even  if 
they  had  behind  them  a  substantial  body  of  public  opinion. 
Thus  there  are  laws  against  kissing,  laws  against  face 
powder  and  rouge,  laws  against  ear-rings,  laws  regulating 

1  December  i,  1919. 

52 


The  American  Problem 

the  length  of  women's  skirts,  laws  fixing  the  size  of  hat- 
pins. In  Massachusetts  one  may  not  play  cards  for 
stakes  even  with  friends  in  the  privacy  of  one's  home. 
In  Texas,  card-playing  on  trains  is  illegal.  One  would 
have  to  scan  the  ordinances  published  by  the  Police  Presi- 
dent of  Berlin  to  find  any  parallel  to  the  arbitrary  regu- 
lations in  regard  to  private  conduct  with  which  American 
citizens  are  surrounded.^ 

The  argument  of  those  who  hold  the  police  responsible 
for  our  lax  observance  of  these  sumptuary  laws  marches 
with  a  stately  tread.  "  The  police,"  they  say,  "  are  sworn 
to  enforce  all  laws.  It  is  not  for  them  to  use  discretion 
in  determining  what  laws  shall  be  enforced  and  what  shall 
not  be."  This  argument  fails  to  take  account  of  the 
practical  situation  in  which  the  police  find  themselves. 
It  is  estimated  that  there  are  on  the  average  something 
like  16,000  statutes,  federal,  state  and  local,  applicable  to 
a  given  city.-  To  enforce  all  of  them,  absolutely,  all  the 
time,  is  of  course  to  any  mind  but  that  of  the  theorist 

1  Statutes  such  as  these  are  frequently  enacted  apparently  on  the 
theory  that  the  function  of  law  is  to  register  the  protest  of  society 
against  wrong.  Dean  Roscoe  Pound  of  the  Harvard  Law  School, 
makes  the  following  comment  on  this  theory :  "  It  is  said  that 
Hunt,  the  agitator,  appeared  on  one  occasion  before  Lord  Ellen- 
borough  at  circuit,  apropos  of  nothing  upon  the  calendar,  to  make 
one  of  his  harangues.  After  the  Chief  Justice  had  exjjlained  to 
him  that  he  was  not  in  a  tribunal  of  general  jurisdiction  to  inquire 
into  every  species  of  wrong  throughout  the  kingdom  but  only  in  a 
court  of  assize  and  jail  delivery  to  deliver  the  jail  of  that  particular 
county,  Hunt  exclaimed,  'But,  my  Lord,  I  desire  to  protest.'  'Oh, 
certainly,'  said  Lord  Ellenborougli.  '  By  all  means.  Usher !  Take 
Mr.  Hunt  into  the  corridor  and  allow  him  to  protest  as  much  as 
he  pleases.'  Our  statute  books  are  full  of  protests  of  society  against 
wrong  which  are  as  efficacious  for  practical  purposes  as  the  decla- 
mations of  Mr.  Hunt  in  the  corridor  of  Lord  Ellenborough's  court." 
(Address  before  Pennsylvania  Bar  Association,  June  27,  1916.) 

-  See  Brand  Whitlock :  Enforcement  of  Laws  in  Cities,  Indian- 
apolis, 1910,  p.  79. 

53 


American  Police  Systems 

and  doctrinaire  utterly  impossible.  With  ten  times  the 
number  of  policemen  it  could  not  be  done.  Arthur 
Woods,  formerly  police  commissioner  in  New  York,  put 
the  case  as  follows :  "  Those  who  lightly  advise  that 
every  law  should  be  vigorously  enforced  cannot  have  in 
contemplation  what  such  a  policy  would  involve :  police 
spies  prowling  around  every  household  over  which  a 
scandal  hovers,  men  and  women  shadowed  by  detectives, 
many  respectable  people  accused  unjustly  by  officious 
functionaries,  immense  sums  of  money  spent  in  putting 
the  entire  community  under  police  surveillance.  All  this 
would  be  necessary."  ^  Whether  it  squares  with  our 
ideals  or  not,  the  police  are  forced  by  practical  circum- 
stances to  determine  where  they  shall  put  the  emphasis  in 
the  enforcement  of  the  law. 

Under  such  circumstances,  therefore,  it  is  not  surpris- 
ing that  they  are  disinclined  to  enforce  statutes  which  lie 
in  the  region  where  public  opinion  is  either  uncertain  or 
frankly  antagonistic  in  its  attitude  toward  the  things 
sought  to  be  required  or  repressed.  Mr.  Brand  Whit- 
lock  defines  the  situation  with  admirable  clearness : 
"  When  the  act  which  violates  the  law  is  merely  malum 
prohibitum  and  would  not  be  wrong  in  itself,  when  large 
numbers  of  the  people,  or  a  majority  of  the  people  wish 
to  commit  that  act  or  have  no  objection  to  others  com- 
mitting it, —  such  an  act,  for  instance,  as  playing  ball, 
going  to  a  theatre,  trimming  a  window,  running  a  train, 
or  having  ice-cream  delivered  for  the  Sunday  dinner, — 
then  it  becomes  impossible  to  enforce  the  law  without  re- 

1  From  a  public  address  delivered  in  1916,  the  manuscript  of  which 
lies  before  me. 

54 


The  American  Problem 

sorting  to  violence,  namely,  by  rushing  policemen  here 
and  there  in  patrol  wagons,  and  forcibly  carrying  away 
men  and  women  to  police  stations,  courts  and  prisons, 
and  when  they  are  out,  doing  the  same  thing  over  again. 
This  process,  when  attempted  on  a  large  scale,  is  called  a 
'  crusade,'  and  is  invariably  accompanied  by  disorder  and 
tumult,  sometimes  by  riot,  and  always  engenders  hatred 
and  bad  feeling.  Its  results  are  harmful  and  it  being 
found  to  be  impossible  to  sustain  the  high  pitch  of  excite- 
ment and  e\en  hysteria  which  are  necessary  to  conduct  a 
crusade  properly,  the  enthusiasm  of  crusading  officials 
soon  subsides,  other  duties  are  found  to  demand  atten- 
tion, and  so  the  crusade  dies  out,  is  abandoned,  and  things 
are  worse  than  before.''  ^ 

Those  who  would  push  the  enforcement  of  their  ideas 
to  such  extremes  as  these  overlook  the  fact  so  succinctly 
stated  by  former  Mayor  Jones  of  Toledo,  that  law  in 
America  is  what  the  people  will  back  up.~  Its  life  is  its 
enforcement.  Victorious  upon  paper,  it  is  powerless  else- 
where. The  test  of  its  validity  is  the  strength  of  the 
social  reaction  which  supports  it.  "  The  true  liberty  of 
law,"  said  Elihu  Root,  "  is  to  be  found  in  its  development 
from  the  life  of  the  people.  The  enforcement  upon  the 
people  of  law  which  has  its  origin  only  in  the  mind  of  a 
law-maker,  has  the  essence  of  tyranny  and  its  imposition 
is  the  mandate  of  a  conqueror."  ^  Said  Emerson : 
"  The  law  is  only  a  memorandum.     We  are  superstitious 

1  Whitlock,  loc.  c'lt.,  p.  20,  quotation  slightly  abridged. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  55. 

3  From  a  speech  delivered  before  the  Harvard  Law  School  Asso- 
ciation of  New  York  City,  April  i,  1915,  the  steno:?raphic  transcript 
of  which  is  before  me. 


American  Police  Systems 

and  esteem  the  statute  somewhat;  so  much  Hfe  as  it  has 
in  the  character  of  hving  men  is  its  force."  ^ 

One  final  adage  is  always  hurled  at  this  position. 
"  The  best  way  to  repeal  a  bad  law  is  to  enforce  it." 
This  statement  is  largely  fallacious.  It  is  true  only  when 
those  upon  whom  the  obnoxious  law  is  enforced  have  the 
power,  through  representatives  that  they  themselves  elect, 
to  repeal  it.  When  the  case  is  otherwise  it  is  not  true. 
For  years  it  has  been  the  practice  of  state  legislatures, 
largely  representative  of  rural  districts,  to  attempt  the 
regulation  by  law  of  the  customs,  diversions,  sports  and 
appetites  of  city  populations.  The  city  police  could  en- 
force these  statutes  to  the  continuous  discomfort  and  an- 
noyance of  all  the  inhabitants  without  effecting  a  repeal, 
because  most  city  populations  are  represented  in  their 
legislatures  by  minorities.  Only  too  often  have  these 
minorities  sought  in  vain  to  obtain  release  from  laws  that 
are  not  adapted  to  the  life  and  habits  of  the  city  and  that 
in  the  nature  of  things  cannot  be  adapted  to  them. 

Meanwhile  our  police  are  caught  in  an  embarrassing 
dilemma,  and  there  is  little  hope  of  a  sound  and  healthy 
basis  of  police  work  until  our  law-making  bodies  face  the 
fact  that  men  cannot  be  made  good  by  force.  The  at- 
tempt to  coerce  men  to  render  unto  Caesar  the  things 
that  are  God's  must  always  end  in  failure.  The  law  can- 
not take  the  place  of  the  home,  the  school,  the  church 
and  other  influences  by  which  moral  ends  are  achieved. 
It  cannot  be  made  to  assume  the  whole  burden  of  social 
control.  Permanent  advance  in  human  society  will  not 
be  brought  about  by  night-sticks  and  patrol  wagons,  but 

^  Essay  on  Politics. 

56 


The  American  Problem 

by  the  cultivation,  in  neighborliness  and  sympathy,  of  a 
pubhc  opinion  which  will  reflect  its  soundness  in  the  laws 
it  enacts  and  in  the  approval  it  gives  to  their  enforce- 
ment.^ 

1  See  Newton  D.  Baker:  Law,  Police  and  Social  Problems,  Atlantic 
Monthly,  Jul}-,  1915  ;  Chap.  IX  of  Havelock  Ellis'  The  Task  of  Social 
Hygiene,  London,  1913 :  Chap.  VIII  of  Fuld's  Police  Administration, 
New  York,  1910;  and  Chap.  VII  of  Woods'  Policeman  and  Public, 
Yale  University  Press,  1919. 


■57 


CHAPTER  II 

THE   DEVELOPMENT    OF    AMERICAN    POLICE    CONTROL 

The  early  beginnings:  Boston,  New  York,  Philadelphia,  Cincin- 
nati.—  The  intermediate  period. —  Opposition  to  uniforms. —  Mob 
rule. —  The  rise  of  police  boards. —  The  development  of  state  control 
in  police  systems.— The  New  York  example  of  1857.— The  exten- 
sion of  state  control  systems. —  The  bi-partisan  board. —  The  passing 
of  the  police  board. —  The  character  of  the  development. —  The 
search  for  mechanical  perfection. —  Politics  in  the  development  of 
the  police. 

Before  considering  the  present  organization  of  our  po- 
lice machinery  it  is  necessary  to  trace  its  development  in 
some  detail  through  the  many  changing  forms  it  has  as- 
sumed. From  no  other  approach  can  the  different  types 
of  control  which  we  find  in  American  municipalities  to- 
day be  understood. 

The  Early  Beginnings. 

The  beginnings  of  police  organization  in  America  are 
traceable  in  the  colonial  period.  Bringing  with  them  the 
methods  of  local  administration  which  existed  at  that 
time  in  England,  the  colonists  on  the  Atlantic  seaboard 
appointed   their   parish   constables  ^    and    their    civilian 

1  On  January  i,  1634,  Joshua  Pratt  was  "chosen  to  the  office  of 
Constable  for  Plymouth  and  swome  to  faithfulnes  in  the  same." 
(Plymouth  Colonial  Records,  i,  21.)  This  officer  not  only  served 
as  jailer  but  executed  punishment  and  penalties  and  gave  warning 
of  marriages  approved  by  civil  authority.  He  furthermore  acted  as 
Sealer  of  Weights  and  Measures  and  Surveyor  of  Land.     For  an 

58 


Development  of  American  Police  Control 

watch.  As  early  as  1636  a  night  watch  was  estabhshed 
in  Boston,^  and  thereafter  hardly  an  important  settlement 
existed  in  New  England  that  did  not  have,  in  addition  to 
its  military  guard,  a  few  miuni formed  watchmen.^'  In 
New  York  the  Sellout  ^  and  Rattle  IVateh  ^  of  the  Dutch 
Colonists  were  superseded  by  the  Constables'  \Vatch  of 
the  English  regime,  and  the  complete  English  system  of 
local  government,  including  a  High  Constable,  sub-con- 
stables and  watchmen,  was  imposed  by  the  Dongan  Char- 
ter of  1686.^  In  Philadelphia  a  night  watchman  was 
appointed  by  the  provincial  council  in  1700  and  the  system 
was  begun  by  which  all  citizens  were  obliged  to  take 
their  turns  in  the  duty  of  watch  and  ward.'' 

excellent  article  on  early  constables  in  New  England  and  their  func- 
tions see  Norman  Constables  in  America  by  Herbert  Baxter  Adams, 
Johns  Hopkins  University  Studies  in  Historical  and  Political  Sci- 
ence, No.  8,  Baltimore,  1883. 

1  By  town  meeting  held  February  27,  1636.  See  Police  Records 
and  Recollections  by  E.  H.  Savage,  Boston,  1865. 

-  In  i6q9  the  Province  of  Massachusetts  standardized  the  custom 
by  passing  an  act  "  for  keeping  watches  in  Towns,"  which  provided 
that  "in  cases  where  no  military  watch  is  established  justices  of  the 
peace  acting  with  selectmen  of  the  Town,  or  in  case  the  Town  has 
no  justices  of  the  peace,  the  selectmen  alone,  shall  have  authority  to 
appoint  and  regulate  the  watch  and  preserve  a  ward."  (Province 
Laws,  Chap.  65.) 

3  An  official  whose  duty  it  was  to  watch  for  infractions  of  laws 
and  ordinances. 

*  Ratclwaclit:  So  called  from  the  rattles  which  the  watchmen 
carried  to  warn  of  their  approach.  Rattles  were  subsequently  used 
in  many  towns.  The  Rattle  Watch  of  the  Dutch  regime  was  formed 
in  October,  1658,  and  placed  under  the  control  of  the  Burgomasters. 
A  description  of  this  Watch  is  found  in  Our  Police  Protectors  by 
A.  E.  Costello,  New  York.  1885,  Chap,  i,  and  in  Memorial  History 
of  the  Citv  of  New  York  by  James  Grant  Wilson,  New  York,  1892, 
Vol.  I.  Chap.  VH. 

^  Under  this  system  the  watchmen  were  supervised  by  the  con- 
stables elected  from  the  wards. 

8  See  Philadelphia.  16S1-18S7,  A  History  of  Municipal  Develop- 
ment, by  .Mlinson  and  Penrose  in  the  Johns  Hopkins  Studies  in  His- 
torical and  Political  Science,  Extra  Volume  U,  Baltimore,  1887. 

59 


American  Police  Systems 

By  the  early  partjof^the_eigliteentli_centiiry  the  "  night 
watch  " "af^IiV'ihstitution  was  well  established  in  the 
existing  towns  and  cities.  Thereafter  for  nearly  a  cen- 
tury and  a  half  it  continued  as  a  feature  of  the  urban 
community  and  became  in  time  a  distinct  branch  of  mu- 
nicipal administration.^  Its  function  was  simply  the  pa- 
trol of  the  streets.  "  Watchmen  are  required  to  walk 
their  rounds  slowly  and  silently  and  now  and  then  stand 
"still  and  listen  "  were  the  orders  issued  in  Boston.^  In 
many  towns  the  watch  was  charged  with  the  additional 
duty  of  crying  the  time  of  night  and  the  state  of  the 
weather  — "  in  a  moderate  tone,"  according  to  the  Boston 
regulations.^  In  some  towns,  such  as  Philadelphia  and 
Baltimore,  it  had  the  care  of  the  street  lamps.  From  the 
beginning  it  appears  to  have  been  no  more  efficient  than 
the  Dogberry  and  Verges  type  on  which  it  was  modeled. 
As  early  as  1642  the  town  government  of  New  Haven 
issued  a  proclamation  as  follows :  "  Itt  is  ordered  by  the 
court  that,  from  henceforwarde,  none  of  the  watchmen 
shall  have  liberty  to  sleep  during  the  watch."  "*     The  town 

1  Under  the  Montgomerie  charter  of  1730  the  common  council  of 
New  York  was  given  power  to  appoint  watchmen  "  and  to  displace 
all  or  any  of  them  and  put  others  in  their  room,  and  to  add  or  di- 
minish the  number  of  them  as  often  as  the  said  common  council,  or 
the  major  part  of  them,  shall  think  fit."  In  1762  the  town  of  Boston 
petitioned  the  general  court  for  authority  to  appoint  its  own  watch, 
and  an  act  was  passed  giving  the  selectmen  the  right  to  choose  a 
number  of  the  inhabitants,  not  exceeding  thirty,  to  serve  as  watch- 
men. This  was  re-enacted  in  1801  and  remained  in  force  until  Bos- 
ton became  a  city  in  1822.     (Savage,  loc.  cit.) 

~  Ibid.,  p.  24. 

3  Ibid.,  p.  26. 

*  New  Haven  Town  Records  II,  31.  Quoted  in  The  Republic  of 
Nezv  Haven,  by  Chas.  H.  Levermore  in  the  Johns  Hopkins  Univer- 
sity Studies  in  Historical  and  Political  Science,  Extra  Volume, 
Baltimore,  1886. 

60 


Development  of  American  Police  Control 

records  of  Boston  tell  a  story  of  similar  difficulties.  A 
report  of  a  committee  of  the  Selectmen  made  in  1819, 
reads  z  s  follows  : 

"January  12:  Find  too  many  watchmen  doing 
duty  inside.  Feb.  3 :  At  one  o'clock  visited  South 
Watch:  constable  asleep.  One  and  one-half  o'clock  at 
Center  Watch  found  constable  and  doorman  asleep. 
Two  o'clock  at  North  Watch  found  constable  and  door- 
man asleep  and  a  drunken  man  kicking  at  the  door  to 
get  in."  ^ 

In  Philadelphia  the  difficulty  experienced  in  inducing 
the  citizens  to  serve  their  turn  as  watchmen  led  to  fre- 
quent grand  jury  investigations  and  presentments.-  In 
New  York  the  professional  watchmen  of  the  early  nine- 
teenth century  were  objects  of  constant  ridicule;  no  orgy 
among  the  young  men  of  the  town  was  complete  which 
did  not  end  in  upsetting  a  watch-box  and  its  sleeping 
occupant  or  in  lassoing  an  unwary  "  Leatherhead  "  as  he 
dozed  on  his  beat.^ 

As  the  nineteenth  centun-  progressed  and  urban  popu- 
lations grew  in  density  the  inadequacy  of  the  night  watch 
became  increasingly  apparent.  The  character  of  its  per- 
sonnel and  its  organization  by  wards  and  districts,  each 
more  or  less  independent  of  the  other,  prevented  its  adap- 
tation to  the  growing  needs  of  the  time.  Its  ranks  were 
made  up  for  the  most  part  of  men  who  pursued  regular 

^  Quoted  in  Savage,  loc.  cit.,  p.  58. 

-  Allinson  and  Penrose,  loc.  cit.  The  watch  became  a  paid  body 
early  in  the  nineteenth  century. 

'  Costello,  loc.  cit.,  p.  72.  The  term  "  Leatherhead  "  was  given  on 
account  of  the  leather  helmets  worn  by  some  members  of  the  watch. 

61 


American  Police  Systems 

occupations  during  the  day  and  who  added  to  their  in- 
comes by  serving  the  city  at  night.  "  Jaded  ste^  edores, 
teamsters  and  mechanics "  comprised  the  New  York 
force. ^  No  standards  except  those  of  a  pohtical  nature 
were  apphed  in  selection.  One  Matthew  Young  was  ap- 
pointed watchman  in  Boston  "  in  order  that  he  and  his 
children  do  not  become  a  Town  charge."  ^  An  investi- 
gating committee  of  the  Board  of  Aldermen  in  New 
York  made  the  finding  that  the  incumbents  were  selected 
for  political  opinions  and  not  for  personal  merit  and  that 
the  term  of  service  of  the  incumbent  was  uncertain  and 
often  very  brief,  depending  on  the  change  of  political 
party.^  Another  investigation  in  1838  showed  that 
watchmen  dismissed  from  one  ward  for  neglect  or  drunk- 
enness found  service  in  another.^  Moreover,  such  police 
protection  as  the  watch  system  afforded  was  provided  only 
by  night  —  generally  between  the  hours  of  nine  o'clock  in 
the  evening  and  sunrise.  At  all  other  times  there  was  no 
police  service  of  any  kind.  Even  the  hours  of  night  serv- 
ice were  not  uniform  for  a  whole  city.  In  New  York  the 
captains  of  the  watch  in  the  different  districts  interpreted 
the  word  "  sunrise  "  as  varying  between  three  o'clock 
and  five  o'clock  in  the  morning.^ 

This  situation  was  first  met  in  several  towns  and  cities 
by  the  formation  of  a  day  police  force  independent  of 
the  night  watch.  Boston  adopted  this  plan  in  1838,  es- 
tablishing a  force  of  six  men  for  day  duty.     By  1846 

1  Costello,  loc.  cit.,  p.  72. 

2  Quoted  from  Savage,  loc.  cit.,  p.  26. 

3  Documents  of  the  Board  of  Aldermen,  1843-44,  Doc.  No.  53. 
*  Documents  of  the  Board  of  Aldermen,  1838,  Doc.  No.  62. 

^  Costello,  loc.  cit. 

62 


Development  of  American  Police  Control 

this  force  had  grown  to  thirty  men.  of  whom  eight  were 
on  duty  at  night,  although  there  was  no  connection,  di- 
rect or  indirect,  with  the  night-watch.^  Similar  arrange- 
ments were  made  in  New  York.  In  1S44  the  day  force 
in  that  city  consisted  of  sixteen  officers  appointed  by  the 
mayor,  in  addition  to  108  Sunday  officers.-  The  night 
watch  was  -a  separate  institution,  consisting  of  twelve 
captains,  twenty-four  assistant  captains  and  1096  watch- 
men, under  the  control  of  the  city  council.^  In  Cincin- 
nati a  day  watch  was  created  in  1842,  consisting  of  two 
persons  selected  by  the  council.  Eight  years  later  the 
council  provided  for  the  election  by  popular  vote  of  six 
day  watchmen  for  each  of  the  wards  of  the  city.*  In 
Philadelphia  the  will  of  Stephen  Girard,  in  which  he  left 
a  large  sum  to  the  city  to  provide  for  "  a  competent  po- 
lice "  *"'  stimulated  more  than  usual  interest  in  the  subject, 

1  Savage,  loc.  cit.,  pp.  77-S7.  The  night  watch  at  this  time  con- 
sisted of   150  men. 

-  There  was  also  a  force  of  100  "  mayor's  marshals  "  who,  with 
the  thirty-four  constables  (two  elected  from  each  ward)  acted  as 
general  peace  officers,  serving  in  the  courts  and  doing  whatever  de- 
tective work  was  done  at  that  time.  This  force  was  also  independ- 
ent of  the  night  watch. 

3  Documents  of  the  Board  of  Aldermen,  1843-44,  Doc.  No.  53. 
New  York  City  at  this  time  was  divided  into  six  districts,  each  in 
charge  of  a  captain  and  two  assistant  captains.  These  men,  however, 
and  the  force  of  watchmen  under  them,  served  only  on  alternate 
nights,  one  complete  company  following  another,  with  the  acknowl- 
edged intent  of  distributing  the  patronage  as  widely  as  possible. 
Thus  one-half  the  full  force  was  on  duty  every  night.  The  watch- 
men patrolled  in  two-hour  shifts,  so  that  only  one  quarter  of  the 
force  was  on  duty  at  a  given  time.  Watchmen  were  paid  $1.00  a 
night  in  summer  and  $1.25  in  winter.  The  captains  received  $2.25 
a  night. 

*  Centennial  History  of  Cincinnati  by  Charles  Theodore  Greve, 
Chicago,  Biographical  Publishing  Co..  1904,  p.  bC\\. 

^  The  clause  in  the  will  representing  this  peculiar  bequest  read  as 
follows : 

"Second. —  To  enable  the  corporation  of  the  city  of   Philadel- 

63 


American  Police  Systems 

with  the  result  that  in  1833  an  ordinance  was  passed  pro- 
viding for  24  policemen  to  serve  by  day  as  well  as  120 
watchmen  by  night. ^  This  ordinance  represented  a  dis- 
tinct advance  over  previous  police  legislation  in  any  city. 
It  placed  the  appointing  power  in  the  hands  of  the  mayor 
and  provided  that  vacancies  in  the  higher  ranks  should  be 
filled  as  far  as  practicable  "  by  promoting  those  who  have 
distinguished  themselves  by  diligence,  integrity  and  skill 
in  an  inferior  grade."  Moreover,  it  centralized  the  con- 
trol of  the  police  force  in  a  single  officer  known  as  the 
"  captain,"  thus  eliminating  the  chaotic  district  autonomy 
which  had  prevailed  up  to  that  time.-     In  1835,  however, 

phia  to  provide  more  effectually  than  they  now  do  for  the  security 
of  the  persons  and  property  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  said  city  by 
a  competent  police,  including  a  sufficient  number  of  watchmen 
really  suited  to  the  purpose;  and  to  this  end  I  recommend  a  divi- 
sion of  the  city  into  watch  districts  of  four  parts,  each  under  a 
proper  head ;  and  that  at  least  two  watchmen  shall  in  each  round 
or  station  patrol  together." 

To  illustrate  the  way  in  which  this  money  was  applied,  the  following 
transcript  from  the  police  budget  of  1838  is  illuminating: 

Budget  for  the  year $149,266. 

Amount  payable  from  the  Girard  Estate 33.190. 

Amount  required  from  the  City  Treasury....  $116,076. 
(From  the  Journal  of  the  Select  Council,  1838,  Appendix  No.  20.) 

1  Ordinances,  1833,  Chap.  552. 

2  Five  years  later  a  similar  endeavor  was  made  in  New  York  to 
end  the  chaos  resulting  from  the  independence  of  the  watch  in  the 
separate  districts  and  an  ordinance  was  passed  putting  the  entire 
department  under  a  superintendent.  (Ordinances  of  1838.)  This 
attempt  at  centralization  met  with  no  greater  success  than  in  Phila- 
delphia, and  18  months  later  the  position  of  superintendent  was  abol- 
ished and  the  old  system  of  twelve  independent  captains  re-estab- 
lished. The  report  of  the  council  committee,  upon  which  this  step 
was  taken,  is  significant  of  the  political  influences  which  lay  be- 
hind it: 

"  The  change  recommended  by  your  Committee  appears  to  be  in 
accordance  with  the  wishes  of  the  Department,  a  consideration  of 
no  small  importance  to  the  prosperity,  union  and  harmony  of  the 

64 


Development  of  American  Police  Control 

this  ordinance  wa?  repealed  and  the  old  system  of  district 
independence  was  re-established.  Thirteen  years  later, 
following  the  example  that  had  been  set  in  Boston  and 
New  York,  an  independent  day  police  force  was  estab- 
lished, consisting  of  34  policemen,  while  the  old  night 
watch  was  maintained  in  its  original  form.^ 

It  was  soon  found  that  a  system  of  two  police  forces, 
one  for  day  and  one  for  night,  was  from  every  point  of 
view  an  impossible  arrangement.  It  not  only  led  to  fric- 
tion and  conflict  but  it  failed  to  correct  the  conspicuous 
evils  which  had  developed  in  the  night  watch.  In  mes- 
sage after  message  the  mayors  of  Boston,  New  York  and 
Philadelphia  called  attention  to  the  need  of  a  new  system. 
This  need  was  emphasized  by  the  increasing  disorder  of 
the  times  and  the  evident  inability  of  the  existing  police 
forces  to  cope  with  it.  Beginning  in  1835  a  series  of 
mob  riots  swept  the  country.  A  fight  in  Boston  in  1837 
between  the  fire  companies  and  the  Irish  involved  15,000 
persons  and  was  suppressed  only  by  drastic  action  of  the 
militia.-  In  Philadelphia  the  negro  riots  of  1838  re- 
sulted in  the  burning  of  Pennsylvania  Hall  and  the  death 
of  many  citizens.^  These  riots  again  broke  out  in  1842 
and  negro  churches  and  meeting  places  were  burned. 
In  1844  the  native  American  riots  lasted  for  three 
months,   during    which   large   numbers   of   people    were 

city  Watch."     Documents  of  the  Board  of  Aldermen,   1839,  Doc. 
No.   16. 

^Ordinances,  1848,  Chap.  1157.  Providence,  R.  I.,  adopted  a  sepa- 
rate day  police  force  in  1851  (Ordinance  of  December  23,  1850)  ; 
Newark  in   1852   (Ordinance  of  August  6,  1852). 

-  Savage,  loc.  cit.,  p.  77. 

3  Philadelphia  Journal  of  the  Select  Council,  1838  —  Appendix 
No.  61. 

65 


American  Police  Systems 

killed  and  wounded  and  much  pr  ^perty,  including 
churches  and  public  buildings,  was  destroyed  by  the 
mobs.^  Riots  of  a  similar  nature  were  of  continuous 
occurrence  in  Baltimore  and  New  York.  In  the  latter 
city  mob  violence  due  to  racial  and  political  differences 
frequently  necessitated  the  presence  of  the  militia.  The 
Croton  riots  and  the  flour  and  election  riots  were  typical 
of  the  lawlessness  of  the  time. 

In  the  face  of  such  difficulties  the  police  machinery 
went  utterly  to  pieces.  A  handful  of  unorganized  "  day 
policemen  "  or  a  few  ward  watchmen  could  not  hope  to 
contend  with  serious  conditions  of  disorder.  New  York 
took  the  first  practical  step  to  remedy  the  situation.  In 
1844  the  legislature  passed  a  law  creating  "  a  day  and 
night  police,"  which  forms  the  basis  of  modern  police 
organization  in  America.  This  act  abolished  the  watch 
system  altogether  and  established  a  force  of  800  men 
under  the  direction  of  a  chief  of  police  appointed  by  the 
mayor  with  the  consent  of  the  council."  The  example 
set  by  New  York  was  followed  by  Boston  in  1854  when 
the  old  organization  of  the  Watch  Department,  after  an 
existence  of  over  200  years,  was  consolidated  with  the 

1  The  Journal  of  the  Select  Council  contains  much  information 
bearing  on  these  riots. 

2  Laws  of  1844,  Chap.  315.  The  act  was  put  into  effect  by  ordi- 
nance on  May  23,  1845.  During  the  interim  the  state  act  was  ig- 
nored by  the  mayor  and  common  council,  whose  authority  was  neces- 
sary to  give  it  legal  effect,  and  an  ordinance  was  passed  providing 
for  a  "  night  and  day  watch "  of  200  men  under  a  superintendent. 
This  ordinance  did  not  affect  the  original  night  watch,  which  was 
allowed  to  continue  its  existence  as  a  separate  institution.  Mayor 
Harper's  insistence  on  this  new  arrangement  earned  for  the  "  night 
and  day  watch  "  the  name  "  Harper's  Police."  Their  career,  which 
lasted  but  five  months,  was  terminated  when  the  common  council 
finally  agreed  to  the  state  act  of  the  previous  year. 

66 


Development  of  American  Police  Control 

day  police  force,  and  an  organization  of  250  men  created 
under  the  control  of  a  chief  appointed  by  the  mayor  and 
council.^  In  the  same  year  the  police  forces  of  Phila- 
delphia and  the  districts  included  within  the  county  were 
consolidated  under  a  marshal  elected  by  the  people  for 
two  years.-  Similarly,  police  forces  under  a  single  head 
were  organized  in  Chicago  in  1851,^  in  New  Orleans  ^  and 
Cincinnati  in  1852,^  in  Baltimore®  and  Newark'  in 
1857,  and  in  Providence  in  1864.^ 

TJie  Intermediate  Period. 

The  movement  toward  consolidation  and  the  creation 

1  Ordinance  of  May  17,  1855,  printed  on  p.  391  of  Lazvs  and  Ordi- 
nances. Boston,  i8j6. 

-  Laws  of  Penn.,  Acts  of  Assembly,  1854,  No.  21.  Two  years 
later  an  act  was  passed  abolishing  the  office  of  marshal  and  in- 
vesting his  powers  in  a  chief  of  police  appointed  by  the  mayor 
with  the  approval  of  the  select  council  (Laws  of  Penn.,  1856,  No. 
587.)  The  first  attempt  to  consolidate  the  police  forces  of  Phila- 
delphia was  made  in  1850,  when  an  act  was  passed  (Laws  of  Penn., 
1850,  Acts  of  General  Assembly,  No.  390)  creating  an  elected 
marshal  of  police  for  the  "  Philadelphia  police  district,"  which 
included  the  separately  incorporated  districts  within  the  county 
of  Philadelphia,  to  wit:  Northern  Liberties,  Spring  Garden,  Ken- 
sington, Richmond,  Penn,  Southwark  and  Moyamensing.  The 
marshal  was  given  power  to  appoint  policemen  from  the  lists 
of  nominees  submitted  by  the  select  and  common  councils  of  the 
city  and  the  commissioners  of  each  of  the  incorporated  districts. 
The  act  was  faulty  in  that  it  failed  to  give  the  marshal  control  of 
all  police  bodies  within  his  jurisdiction.  The  city  of  Philadelphia 
still  insisted  on  maintaining  its  old  day  and  night  police.  This  fault 
was  corrected  by  the  thoroughgoing  consolidation  act  of  1854,  above 
cited. 

3  Charter  of  1851,  Private  Laws  of  III,  1851,  p.  132. 

*  Laws  of  La.,  1852,  No.  71. 

5  Laws  of  Ohio.  1852.  p.  223. 

"Ordinances:  1857,  No.  4.  It  provided  for  the  amalgamation  of 
the  night  watch  and  the  day  police  under  a  marshal  appointed  an- 
nually by  the  mayor  with  the  consent  of  the  councils. 

'■  Revised  Ordinances,   1857,  Chap.  XII,   Sec.  3. 

8  Ordinance  of  August  12,  1864. 

67 


American  Police  Systems 

of  an  executive  head  in  the  person  of  the  chief  or  mar- 
shal marked  a  long  step  forward  in  the  development  of 
municipal  police  organization.  Many  difficulties,  how- 
ever, were  still  to  be  overcome  in  shaping  the  police  forces 
thus  formed  into  effective  instruments  for  public  protec- 
tion. The  spoils  system  had  taken  a  firm  grip  on  popu- 
lar imagination,  and  the  legislation  of  the  period  reflected 
its  sordid  point  of  view.  In  New  York  under  the  Law 
of  1844  the  captains,  assistant  captains  and  policemen 
were  appointed  for  one  year  only,  upon  the  nomination 
of  the  aldermen  and  assistant  aldermen  of  the  wards  in 
which  they  belonged.  In  other  words  the  police  depart- 
ment was  still  a  ivard  affair,  used  to  satisfy  the  demands 
for  district  patronage,  and  the  chief  of  police  was  a  fig- 
urehead with  no  authority  and  little  honor.  Said  the 
district  attorney  of  New  York  County :  "  There  is  really 
no  head  of  police  at  all,  but  each  captain  is  a  head  in  his 
own  district,  and  discipline  varies  in  different  wards  ac- 
cording to  the  attention  or  skill  and  tact."  ^  It  is  small 
wonder  that  the  new  force  was  the  object  of  vicious  at- 
tack and  that  some  despairing  if  misguided  citizens  sought 
the  return  of  the  old  watch  system.-  In  Baltimore  the 
new  force  organized  in  1857  became  the  prey  of  the 
Know-Nothing  party  and  was  employed  principally  as  an 
instrument  of  the  political  faction  in  power  to  control 
elections.  "Ruffianism"  and  "bloody  tyranny"  were 
among  the  milder  offenses  charged  against  the   force.' 

1  From  a  letter  quoted  in  New  York  State  Assembly  Document 
127,  1857. 

2  The  records  of  the  common  council  during  this  period  are  filled 
with  reports  of  charges  and  investigations. 

3  Baltimore  Sun,  November  14,  1859. 

68 


Development  of  American  Police  Control 

Similar  use  of  the  police  was  made  in  Cincinnati.  Even 
in  Boston,  where  the  spoils  system  was  late  in  developing, 
it  was  not  without  its  early  disciples  in  the  police  depart- 
ment. An  officer  on  the  force  wrote  the  following  sig- 
nificant paragraph  in  his  published  memoirs : 

"  The  Marshal  seemed  to  think  that  things  looked  a 
bit  squally,  and  under  his  direction  we  very  quietly 
dabbled  a  little  in  politics  at  the  election.  Our  choice 
was  successful  and  we  were  in  very  good  spirits  at  the 
close  of  the  year,  in  anticipation  of  a  longer  job."  ^ 

That  the  police  force  under  such  conditions  should  de- 
velop into  an  undisciplined,  untrained  group  of  place- 
seekers  is  not  to  be  wondered  at.  Indeed,  perhaps  the 
most  serious  difficulty  encountered  by  the  police  executive 
was  the  attempt  to  apply  the  regulations  of  the  depart- 
ment to  its  own  members.  The  departmental  reports  of 
the  time  indicate  a  condition  of  utter  lawlessness  on  the 
part  of  the  police  themselves.  Assaulting  superior  offi- 
cers, refusing  to  go  on  patrol,  releasing  prisoners  from 
the  custody  of  other  policemen,  drunkenness,  extorting 
money  from  prisoners  —  these  were  ofifenses  of  daily 
occurrence,  committed  often  with  impunity  under  the  pro- 
tection of  a  political  over-lord.-  Mayor  Fernando  Wood 
of  New  York  in  his  message  to  the  common  council  in 
1856  emphasized  the  lack  of  discipline  in  the  department. 
"  A  recollection  of  former  prowess,"  he  said,  "  or  of 
successful  political  combats  with  the  laurel  still  green  pre- 

1  Savage,  loc.  cit.,  p.  91. 

-  For  example,  see  list  of  complaints  against  the  police  force  for 
the  year  1852.  Documents  of  the  .\.  V.  Board  of  Aldermen,  Doc. 
No.  53,  pp.  1047  ff. 

69 


American  Police  Systems 

vents  that  submission  to  the  rules  and  regulations  neces- 
sary in  a  well  organized  police  corps."  ^ 

In  nothing  was  the  undisciplined  attitude  of  the  police 
more  clearly  shown  than  in  their  refusal  to  wear  uni- 
forms. Although  by  1855  a  beginning  had  been  made 
by  a  few  communities  in  the  shape  of  regulation  hats  and 
caps,  no  city  had  at  this  time  a  completely  uniformed 
force.  "  Un-American,"  "  undemocratic,"  "  militarism," 
*'  King's  livery,"  "  a  badge  of  degradation  and  servitude," 
"  an  imitation  of  royalty  " —  ideas  of  this  kind  formed 
the  basis  of  opposition  to  putting  policemen  in  uniform.^ 
In  New  York  the  policemen  were  simply  guards  in  citi- 
zen's clothes,  armed  with  33-inch  clubs.  "  Every  watch- 
man " —  so  ran  the  regulations  — "  shall  wear  a  medal 
inside  his  clothes,  suspended  round  his  neck,  both  day  and 
night  when  on  duty,  and  shall  expose  the  same  when 
about  restoring  peace,  or  on  making  an  arrest,  or  when 
performing  any  duty  of  that  kind."  ^  Said  a  writer  in 
i8'53,  referring  to  the  New  York  pohce:  "  If  you  want 
one  suddenly  by  night  or  by  day,  where  will  you  look 
for  him?     And  look  at  their  style  of  dress,  some  with 

1  Documents  of  the  Board  of  Councilmen,  1856,  Doc.  No.  5. 

2  See  Mayor  Fernando  Wood's  address  to  the  police  of  New  York 
in  1855,  in  which  he  tried  to  win  them  over  to  a  uniform.  Among 
other  arguments  was  the  following : 

"  You  draw  from  the  city  treasury  as  pay  in  the  aggregate 
nearly  one  million  dollars  per  annum,  besides  what  is  given  to  in- 
dividuals as  presents,  which  last  year  amounted,  according  to  the 
books  in  the  Mayor's  office,  to  about  $15,000,  and  so  far  this  year 
to  about  $4,000,  not  including  many  valuable  presents  not  to  be 
estimated  by  money." 
(Address  of  May  26,  1855,  printed  in  the  council  reports  of  that 

year.) 

2  Documents  of  the  Board  of  Aldermen  —  New  York  City,  1844-45, 

Doc.  No.  30,  Sec.  14. 

70 


Development  of  American  Police  Control 

hats,  some  with  caps,  some  with  coats  hke  Joseph's  of  old, 
parti-colored.  If  they  were  mustered  together  they  would 
look  like  Falstaff' s  regiment."  ^  Even  when  the  New 
York  police  finally  adopted  a  uniform  early  in  1856,  it 
was  not  standardized  for  the  whole  force.  Each  ward 
had  its  own  uniform  as  it  saw  fit.  The  summer  uniform 
in  some  wards  consisted  of  white  duck  suits ;  other  wards 
adopted  colors ;  some  wore  straw  hats  and  some  felt.^ 
In  Philadelphia  in  1856  the  attempt  to  make  the  police 
even  wear  badges  outside  their  coats  met  with  bitter  oppo- 
sition. Only  after  much  persuasion  did  Mayor  Conrad 
induce  them  to  adopt  regulation  caps,  and  not  until  late 
in  i860  did  they  put  on  complete  uniforms. 

With  such  lack  of  discipline  the  police  could  hardly  be 
expected  to  make  much  impression  upon  the  disorderly 
conditions  which  so  characterized  city  life  in  the  decade 
preceding  the  Civil  War.  "  They  inspire  no  respect, 
they  create  no  fear,"  said  a  writer  in  1853  in  relation 
to  the  New  York  police.  "  Hardly  a  day  passes  but  the 
thief  or  felon  turns  round  and  attacks  the  policeman."  ^ 
Indeed,  in  many  of  the  larger  cities  a  state  of  terrorism 
existed,  due  to  the  inability  of  the  authorities  to  curb  the 
gangs  and  "  clubs  "  which  existed  at  that  time.  The 
mob  riots  which  characterized  the  forties  increased  in 
fury  and  violence  during  the  fifties.  In  Philadelphia  or- 
ganized bands  of  ruffians  and  thieves  were  associated 
under  such  names  as  "  The  Blood  Cubs,"  "  The  Rats," 
and  '*  The  Schuylkill  Rangers,"  and  rioting  was  of  con- 

^  London  and  New  York:  Their  Crime  and  Police,  a  pamphlet  by 
J.  W.  Gerard.  New  York,  1853,  p.  17. 
-  Costello,  loc.  cit.,  p.  129. 
3  Gerard,  loc.  cit.,  p.  18. 

71 


American  Police  Systems 

tinual  occurrence.  In  some  cases  houses  were  fired  for 
purposes  of  pillage,  and  the  firemen  were  forcibly  pre- 
vented from  attending.  Sunday  was  given  over  to  con- 
stant street  fighting,  in  which  the  volunteer  fire  companies 
played  a  prominent  and  generally  provocative  part.  Sim- 
ilar conditions  existed  in  Baltimore.  In  1859  the  Balti- 
more Sun  commented  guardedly  as  follows : 

"  The  *  club  '  organization  in  this  city  .  .  .  can  con- 
centrate a  formidable  demonstration  in  any  quarter 
against  unorganized  individuals  and  peaceable  citizens. 
It  is  known  to  possess  a  variety  of  arms,  such  as  mus- 
kets, revolvers,  '  bob-tails,'  billies  and  knuckles,  includ- 
ing everything  serviceable  in  the  roughest  and  deadli- 
est conflict.  .  .  .  The  reproach  to  W'hich  our  citizens 
are  exposed  is  that  of  cowardice.  .  .  .  Why,  if  ruffian- 
ism is  confined  to  a  few,  do  not  the  many  drive  it  out 
or  destroy  it  ?  "  ^ 

In  Cincinnati  the  Bedini  riots  of  1853  were  followed 
by  the  Know-Nothing  riots  of  1855.  I^^  New  York  con- 
ditions were  even  worse.  The  composition  of  the  local 
police  force,  largely  Irish,  provoked  deep  antagonisms, 
which  were  enhanced  by  the  bitterness  with  which  local 
political  campaigns  were  waged. ^  The  city  was  becoming 
increasingly  cosmopolitan,  and  racial  differences  were  set- 

1  Baltimore  Sun,  November  10,  1859. 

2  In  185s  Chief  of  Police  Matsell  of  New  York  reported  to  the 
Board  of  Aldermen  that  305  out  of  1,149  policemen  on  the  force  had 
been  born  in  Ireland.  This  was  probably  an  understatement,  as  Mat- 
sell  was  at  that  time  under  fire  for  "Irishizing"  his  force.  (See 
Documents  of  the  Board  of  Aldermen,  1855.) 

Strong  feeling  developed  against  the  foreign  composition  of  the 
police  force  in  many  cities.     In  Cleveland  in  1872  an  investigation 

72 


Development  of  American  Police  Control 

tied  in  vicious  and  often  fatal  gang  fights.  The  Astor 
Place  riots  of  185 1,  due  to  jealousy  between  the  followers 
of  the  actors  Forrest  and  Macready,  resulted  in  the  death 
of  scores  of  people.  Gangs  known  as  "  The  Bowery 
Boys  "  and  "  The  Dead  Rabbits,"  centering  in  a  district 
called  "  Five  Points,"  terrorized  the  city.  In  1858  a 
mob  attacked  and  burned  the  public  hospitals  at  the  quar- 
antine station,  with  no  interference  from  the  police,  de- 
spite the  fact  that  the  intentions  of  the  mob  had  been 
openly  advertised. 

Conditions  such  as  these  were  common,  to  a  greater  or 
less  extent,  in  all  American  cities  in  the  middle  of  the 
nineteenth  century.  The  strong  hand  of  a  well  organized 
police  was  required,  but  in  no  city  had  the  difficulties  in 
the  way  of  creating  such  an  organization  been  overcome. 
Indeed,  there  seemed  to  be  little  appreciation  of  the  na- 
ture of  the  difficulties  or  of  the  elementary  steps  to  be 
taken  in  building  up  an  effective  police  force.  The  citi- 
zens of  that  day  were  groping  in  the  dark.  No  prece- 
dents existed  to  serve  as  guides  or  warnings.  City  popu- 
lations had  grown  like  magic.  Municipal  government 
had  suddenly  become  a  complex  mechanism  with  no  one 
skilled  enough  to  handle  it  or  even  to  grasp  its  implica- 
tions. The  task  of  creating  rational  municipal  arrange- 
ments was  obscured  by  the  social  and  political  movements 
which  swept  across  the  middle  decades  of  the  nineteenth 

showed  the  force  to  be  made  up  of  the  following  nationalities 
(Cleveland  Daily  Herald,  Feb.  5,  1872)  : 

American   46               English  9 

German     35                Scotch  3 

Irish    31               Bohemian  1 

Austrian     I 

73 


American  Police  Systems 

century  with  peculiar  force.  Democracy  was  rising  in  a 
new  strength,  conscious  of  power,  but  vague  and  uncer- 
tain as  to  program  and  method.  The  early  reaction  from 
the  doubt  and  conservatism  of  the  Federalists  had  been 
continued  and  accentuated  by  the  political  theories  of 
Jackson  and  his  followers,  and  was  now  reaching  its  cul- 
mination. Universal  suffrage  without  property  qualifi- 
cations had  become  an  established  fact ;  religious  and 
property  requirements  for  office  holding  had  been  aban- 
doned ;  terms  of  office  had  been  shortened ;  the  principle  of 
"  rotation  in  office  "  had  been  accepted ;  even  the  judiciary 
had  not  been  spared  in  the  triumphant  progress  of  the 
newly  awakened  democratic  sentiment. 

Among  the  many  changes  wrought  by  this  tidal  wave 
was  the  increased  participation  of  the  people  in  the  direct 
election  of  their  officers.  Where  hitherto  the  city  council 
had  chosen  the  mayor  and  other  executive  officers  of 
local  government,  they  were  now  chosen  by  popular  elec- 
tion. This  movement,  which  swept  rapidly  over  the  en- 
tire country,  did  not  spare  the  police  department.  As 
early  as  1840  members  of  the  nig'ht  watch  of  Cincinnati 
were  elected  by  citizens  of  the  ward  in  which  they  served.^ 
In  1850  day  watchmen  were  similarly  chosen.-  In  the 
same  year,  as  we  have  seen,  the  principle  of  a  popularly 
elected  marshal  at  the  head  of  a  police  force  was  estab- 
lished in  Philadelphia.^  In  1850,  also,  San  Francisco 
provided  for  an  elective  city  marshal  *  and  six  years  later 

1  Local  Laws  of  Ohio,  1839,  p.  157. 

2  Greve,  he.  cit.,  p.  664. 

3  See  ante,  p.  67. 

*  Laws  of  Cal.,  1850,  Chap.  98. 

74 


Development  of  American  Police  Control 

for  an  elective  chief  of  police.^  These  examples  were 
followed  in  Chicago  in  185 1.-  in  Cleveland  in  1852  ^  and 
in  many  other  towns  and  cities.  Brooklyn  elected  not 
only  its  chief  of  police  but  its  captains  of  police  as  well.'* 
These  arrangements  were  not  evolved  as  relating  particu- 
larly to  the  police  department.  They  represented  a  phase 
of  the  political  philosophy  of  the  time.  The  charter  of 
the  city  of  Cleveland  of  1852,  which  provided  for  the 
election  of  a  city  marshal,  provided  also  for  the  election 
of  a  civil  engineer,  a  fire  engineer,  a  treasurer,  an  auditor, 
a  solicitor,  a  police  judge,  a  superintendent  of  markets, 
trustees  of  the  board  of  water  works  and  three  street  com- 
missioners. The  pure  democracy  of  a  New  England 
town  meeting  became  the  ideal  of  local  government  ^  and 
the  widening  scope  of  popular  elections  represented  the 
attempt  to  adapt  what  had  proved  successful  in  small, 
homogeneous  villages  to  rapidly  growing  cosmopolitan 
cities. 

It  would  be  difficult  to  overestimate  the  marked  effect 

1  Laws  of  Cal.,  1856,  Chap.  125. 

2  Private  Laws  of  111.,  1851,  p.  132. 

3  Laws  of  Ohio,  1852,  p.  223.  A  marshal  was  elected  as  early  as 
1827  in  Cincinnati  under  the  city  charter  that  went  into  effect  at  that 
time,  but  the  principle  was  given  up  some  years  before  its  initiation 
in  Philadelphia.     25  O.  L.  40. 

■*  N.  Y.  Assembly  documents  of  1857,  No.  127,  p.  3. 

^Jefferson's  influence  contributed  to  this  end.  He  recommended 
for  Virginia  a  system  of  local  government  modeled  on  the  New 
England  plan.  (See  his  Works,  VII,  Washington  edition,  p.  357; 
also  V,  524.)  Naturally,  he  did  not  foresee  the  extraordinary 
growth  of  city  populations  which  followed  later  in  the  century.  He 
insisted  that  the  Americans  would  continue  to  be  virtuous  and  retain 
their  democratic  form  of  government  as  long  as  they  remained  an 
agricultural  people,  but  "  when  they  get  piled  upon  one  another  in 
large  cities,  as  in  Europe,  they  wilf  become  corrupt,  as  in  Europe." 
(Works,  IV,  479.) 

75 


American  Police  Systems 

of  this  movement  upon  police  organization  and  municipal 
government  generally.  For  years  it  retarded  the  natural 
growth  of  police  function  in  many  sections  of  the  United 
States.  Developing  into  the  idea  that  the  choice  of  ad- 
ministrative heads  of  specialized  departments  can  wisely 
be  left  to  the  exigencies  of  popular  elections,  it  became 
increasingly  difficult  of  application  as  city  populations 
grew  larger  and  more  complex ;  and  while  today  its  influ- 
ence has  been  for  the  most  part  spent,  its  results  are  still 
visible,  as  we  shall  see  in  a  later  chapter,  in  the  form  and 
structure  of  many  police  forces  throughout  the  country. 
Meanwhile,  attention  must  be  turned  to  another  devel- 
opment of  the  middle  nineteenth  century,  whose  effect 
upon  police  organization  today  is  even  more  pronounced. 

The  Rise  of  Police  Boards. 

Prior  to  the  fonnation  of  modem  police  forces,  initi- 
ated, as  we  have  seen,  in  the  decade  between  1845  ^"*^ 
1855,  police  arrangements  were  largely  in  the  control  of 
city  councils.  The  office  of  mayor  had  not  yet  been  asso- 
ciated with  broad  executive  powers,  and  appointments,  as 
well  as  administrative  responsibilities  were  lodged  in  the 
common  council.  The  decade  just  referred  to,  however, 
witnessed  a  pronounced  decay  in  these  wide  powers  and 
the  waning  influence  of  the  council  as  an  administrative 
body.  This  change  was  undoubtedly  due  in  part  to  the 
rising  democratic  sentiment  which  brought  with  it  a  pro- 
nounced distrust  of  the  legislative  departments  of  the 
government,  both  state  and  local.  It  was  due,  too,  to 
the  growing  complexity  of  municipal  functions  and  the 
increasing  difficulties  of  supervision  through  committees 

76 


Development  of  American  Police  Control 

of  council.  Whatever  the  cause,  council  control  gave 
way  to  an  institution  which  came  into  instant  and  wide- 
spread favor  and  which  has  characterized  American  local 
government  to  the  present  day  —  the  independent  admin- 
istrative board. 

The  origin  of  this  novel  experiment,  particularly  in  its 
relation  to  police  organization,  cannot  be  exactly  deter- 
mined. School  boards  and  poor  relief  boards  had  ex- 
isted prior  to  this  period  and  it  is  possible  that  the  new 
movement  was  merely  a  wider  application.  It  is  just 
possible,  too,  that  the  English  municipal  reform  bill  of 
1835,  with  its  provision  for  "  watch  committees  "  of  the 
local  council,  may  have  suggested  a  special  board  of  police 
administrators.  Again,  it  may  be  that  the  old  council 
committee  which  for  years  had  been  practically  responsi- 
ble for  the  police,  was  the  pattern  for  the  new  form  of 
control.  Apparently  the  earliest  reference  to  such  an  ar- 
rangement was  contained  in  an  ordinance  proposed  in 
New  York  in  1844,  to  effect  a  reorganization  of  the  police 
department.  This  ordinance,  which  subsequently  failed 
of  passage,^  provided  for  a  "  board  of  police  ''  consisting 
of  the  superintendent,  the  two  sub-superintendents  and 
the  four  directors,  one  for  each  of  the  subdivision  dis- 
tricts. The  board  was  charged  with  general  adminis- 
trative functions.-  Somewhat  similar  arrangements 
were  carried  through  in  Philadelphia  in  1850.  when  under 
the  police  act  of  that  year  ^  the  marshal  and  the  several 

1  Instead,  an  ordinance  was  passed  providing  for  "  Harper's  Po- 
lice."    (See  note  2.  page  66.) 

-  The  text  of  this  proposed  ordinance  is  noted  in  the  Proceedings 
of  the  New  "S'ork  Board  of  Aldermen,  1843-44. 

3  Laws  of   Pcnn.,  1850,  No.  239. 

77 


American  Police  Systems 

lieutenants  formed  a  board  of  police  to  "  make  such  use- 
ful rules  and  regulations  as  may  be  required  and  to  keep 
a  chief  police  station  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia."  Later 
in  the  same  year  another  act  was  passed  providing  that 
the  police  board  should  consist  of  the  marshal  of  police, 
and  the  presidents  of  the  respective  town  boards  of  the 
communities  within  the  police  district.^ 

This  arrangement  was  copied  in  New  York  in  1853." 
An  administrative  body  was  created,  called  the  "  board 
of  police  commissioners,"  consisting  of  the  mayor,  the 
recorder  and  the  city  judge.  Apart  from  the  fact  that 
the  chief  of  police  was  selected  by  the  mayor  with  the 
board's  approval,  the  board  had  full  powers  of  appoint- 
ment and  dismissal  of  all  members  of  the  force  and  was 
charged  with  general  administrative  duties.  There- 
after for  forty-eight  years  the  police  department  of 
New  York  was  in  the  hands  of  some  form  of  police 
board. 

As  the  example  set  by  New  York  in  1844  of  consoli- 
dating the  day  and  night  police  under  a  single  head  had 
been  followed  by  all  the  large  cities  in  the  country,  so 
now  the  Philadelphia  board  of  1850  and  the  New  York 
board  of  1853  became  the  general  patterns  which  many 
communities  took  pains  to  copy,  although  the  idea  was 
subjected  to  endless  modification.  New  Orleans  adopted 
the  plan  in  1853,  creating  a  board  consisting  of  the  mayor 
and  the  recorders  of  the  city.^  Cincinnati  adopted 
it   in    1859   providing    for   a   board   of    four   appointed 

1  Laws  of  Penn.,  1850,  No.  240.  This  arrangement  lasted  until 
1854.     (See  note  2,  on  page  67.) 

2  Laws  of  N.  Y.,  1853,  Chap.  228. 

3  Acts  of  La.,  1853,  No.  iiS- 

78 


Development  of  American  Police  Control 

by  the  mayor,  the  pohce  judge,  and  the  city  auditor.^ 
In  the  same  year  San  Francisco  established  a  board  of 
three,  consisting  of  the  police  judge,  the  president  of  the 
board  of  supervisors  and  the  chief  of  police  -  serving 
c.v  officio.  Detroit's  board  was  established  in  1861,  made 
up  of  the  mayor  and  two  persons  appointed  by  the  com- 
mon council."''  Boards  were  established  in  St.  Louis  ^ 
and  Kansas  City  ^  in  1861,  in  Buffalo  "^  and  Cleveland'^ 
in  1866,  in  Richmond,^  Atlanta '"^  and  other  southern 
cities  in  the  decade  beginning  1870.  In  the  years  that 
followed,  with  the  exception  of  Philadelphia,  there  was 
hardly  an  important  city  in  the  country  but  that  experi- 
mented in  some  fashion  or  other  with  a  police  board. 
The  modifications  of  the  plan  were  of  infinite  variety. 
Boards  were  made  up  of  local  officers  serving  e.v  officio 
or  of  outsiders.  They  ranged  in  size  from  boards  of 
two,  as  in  Cleveland  ^"  to  boards  of  twelve  as  in  Atlanta.'^ 
They  were  chosen  by  popular  elections,  by  district  elec- 

I  Laws  of  Ohio,  1859,  p.  48. 

-  Statutes  of  Cal.,  1859,  Chap.  135.  This  board  was  given  no 
real  functions  except  to  act  as  a  clieck  upon  the  members  of  the 
force  in  receiving  presents  and  following  other  professions. 

^  Laws  of  Mich.,  No.  136.  Lhider  this  act  the  board  was 
given  disciplinary  powers  over  the  members  o^f  the  force.  The  chief, 
however,  was  appointed  and  removed  by  the  common  council. 

*  Laws  of  Mo.,  i8C)i,  p.  446. 

^  Local  Laws  of  Mo.,  1861,  p.  63  (Called  Session). 

•^  Laws  of  N.  Y.,  1866,  Chap.  484.  This  was  the  so-called  "  Niagara 
Frontier  Police  Bill,"  which  incorporated  Buffalo,  Tonawanda  and 
La  Salle  under  the  control  of  a  board  of  police  commissioners. 
Tonawanda  and  La  Salle,  however,  refused  to  enter  the  arrangement 
and  the  act  took  effect  for  Buffalo  alone.     It  lasted  until  1872. 

^  Laws  of  Ohio,  1866,  p.  104. 

8  Acts  of  Va.,  Ses.  1869-70,  Chap.  loi. 

^  Local  and  Private  Laws  of  Ga.,  1874,  No.  in,  Sec.  72. 

1**  Municipal  Code  of  1902 :  Laws  of  1902,  Extraordinary  Session, 
pp.  68  ff. 

II  Laws  of  Ga.,  1908,  Part  III  — Title  I,  Act  No.  515. 

79 


American  Police  Systems 

tions,  by  council  elections,  and  by  appointment  at  the 
hands  of  mayors,  governors,  judges,  or  groups  of  offi- 
cials. Occasionally  the  law  named  the  specific  persons 
to  serve  on  the  board,  as  in  New  York  in  1864  ^  and  De- 
troit in  1865."  In  political  complexion,  boards  were  par- 
tisan, non-partisan,  or  bi-partisan.  In  some  cases  they 
constituted  an  integral  part  of  the  city  government,  rising 
and  falling  with  an  administration;  in  other  cases  they 
were  independent  of  any  municipal  official  or  their  terms 
of  office  were  not  coincident  with  an  existing  political 
regime.  The  powers  of  the  boards  ranged  from  mere 
advisory  duties  to  absolute  authority.  In  some  cities 
these  powers  were  measured  by  the  responsibilities  im- 
posed; in  others,  full  responsibility  was  exacted,  while 
powers  were  shared  with  different  branches  of  the  mu- 
nicipal government. 

In  the  kaleidoscopic  variations  and  adaptations  which 
followed  upon  the  adoption  of  the  board  plan  of  control, 
it  is  difficult  to  trace  the  line  of  police  development.  A 
clue  presents  itself,  however,  in  a  movement,  initiated  in 
New  York  in  1857,  to  introduce  in  America  Sir  Robert 
Peel's  method  of  police  control  which  had  been  adopted 
for  the  metropolitan  district  of  London  in  1829. 

The  Rise  of  State-controlled  Police  Systems. 

The  law  of  1853,  as  we  have  seen,  gave  to  New  York 
a  board  of  police  commissioners  consisting  of  the  mayor, 
the  recorder  and  the  city  judge.  In  taking  this  step  the 
legislature  had  hoped  to  eliminate  the  political  favoritism 


iLaws  of  N.  Y.,  1864,  Chap.  41. 
2  Laws  of  Mich.,  1865,  No.  78. 


80 


Development  of  American  Police  Control 

and  ward  control  which  prior  to  that  time  had  dominated 
the  department.  This  hope,  however,  was  justified  only 
in  part.  The  recorder  and  the  city  judge,  serving  ex 
officio,  took  httle  interest  in  the  affairs  of  the  force,  and 
control  was  gradually  assumed  by  the  mayor.  Police- 
men were  still  appointed  for  one  year  only  and  political 
faithfulness  was  the  single  standard  imposed.  "  There 
is  no  incentive  to  promotion,''  wrote  the  district  attorney 
of  New  York  County  in  1857.  "On  the  contrary,  cap- 
tains are  taken  from  citizens  and  placed  over  lieutenants 
and  sergeants  of  ten  years'  experience."  ^  The  news- 
papers of  the  time  were  filled  with  similar  expressions. 
"  Vicious  and  inefficient  "  was  the  characterization  of  the 
New  York  Times  in  regard  to  the  police  force.-  Said 
the  New  York  Tribune: 

"  We  all  know  that  at  present  the  police  seem  pow- 
erless for  good ;  that  bold  and  dangerous  criminals  were 
never  so  bold  and  dangerous;  that  life  and  property 
were  never  so  insecure;  that  gambling  and  prostitution 
and  illegal  trade  were  never  so  open  and  shameless ; 
that  the  public  sentiment  of  danger  from  violence  was 
never  so  acute,  nor  with  so  much  reason.  And  why  is 
it?  Because  the  policemen  are  politicians,  getting  the 
places  as  the  reward  of  political  service;  because  they 
dare  not  or  will  not  offend  the  fellows  wdio  have  fought 
shoulder  to  shoulder  with  them  at  the  polls."  •' 

In    1856   a   legislative   investigating   committee  —  the 

1  Assembly  Documents  of  1857.  No.  127,  p.  2-3. 

2  New  York  Times,  February  28,  1857. 

3  New  York  Tribune,  February  5,  1857. 

81 


American  Police  Systems 

first  of  a  long  line  of  such  committees  to  overhaul  the 
municipal  affairs  of  New  York  —  reported  on  the  scan- 
dalous practices  existing  in  the  department  and  recom- 
mended that  the  board  of  police  commissioners  be  re- 
organized so  that  the  mayor  as  ex  officio  member  would 
serve  with  four  to  six  competent  persons  to  be  elected  by 
the  people.^  This  recommendation,  which  was  in  line 
with  the  democratic  sentiment  of  the  time,  was  not 
adopted.  In  1857,  however,  the  legislature  passed  the  so- 
called  Metropolitan  police  bill,  modeled  after  "  the  world 
renowned  Police  Act  of  London  and  its  suburbs."  ^ 
This  'act  ^  consolidated  the  police  districts  of  the  cities  of 
New  York  and  Brooklyn  and  the  counties  of  Kings, 
Westchester,  and  Richmond  ■*  under  a  board  of  five  com- 
missioners appointed  by  the  governor  —  three  from  New 
York,  one  from  Kings,  and  one  from  Richmond  or  West- 
chester, together  with  the  mayors  of  New  York  and 
Brooklyn.  It  represented  an  attempt,  more  or  less  in- 
duced by  partisan  considerations,  to  do  what  the  English 
parliament  had  done  twenty-eight  years  before  when  it  cre- 
ated out  of  a  number  of  small,  separate  local  constabula- 

1  Senate  Documents  of  1856,  No.  97. 

2  Report  of  Assembly  Committee  on  Cities  and  Villages,  Assembly 
Documents  of  1857,  No.  127,  p.  4. 

3  Laws  of  N.  Y.,  1857,  Chap.  569.  The  bill  as  reported  from 
the  Assembly  Committee  provided  for  seven  police  commissioners  — 
one  from  each  of  the  counties  of  Richmond  and  Westchester,  two 
from  Kings  county,  and  three  from  New  York,  with  the  mayors  of 
New  York  and  Brooklyn  ex  oihcio,  "  placing  the  great  city  in  a  mi- 
nority, where  her  wealth  and  increasing  importance  may  well  per- 
mit her  to  be  without  injury,  and  which  may  be  useful  to  check  any 
tendency  to  extravagant  expenditure."  (Report  of  Assembly  Com- 
mittee on  Cities  and  Villages,  Assembly  Document  No.  127.) 

*  The  towns  of  Flushing,  Jamaica  and  Newtown,  in  Queens 
County,  were  added  to  the  Metropolitan  district  by  Laws  of  i860, 
Chap.  259. 

82 


Development  of  American  Police  Control 

ries  the  Metropolitan  police  force  of  London.^  As  that 
force  had  been  placed  under  the  control  of  a  state  official, 
the  Home  Secretary,  so  the  legislature  of  1857  made  the 
governor  the  appointing  power,  modifying  the  grant  in 
characteristic  American  fashion  by  requiring  the  consent 
of  the  senate  to  the  appointments.  In  other  respects,  how- 
ever, the  analogy  between  the  two  laws  breaks  down. 
The  board  form  of  control  had  by  this  time  taken  a  firm 
hold  on  official  imagination  in  America  and  Sir  Robert 
Peel's  provision  for  two  commissioners,  later  changed  to 
a  single  headed  commission,^  was  abandoned  in  New 
York  for  a  board  of  seven  members.  The  New  York 
act,  too,  reflected  the  democratic  sentiment  of  the  period 
in  limiting  the  terms  of  the  commissioners  to  three  years, 
either  in  fear  of  the  bugaboo  of  "  an  office-holding  class," 
or  in  frank  acceptance  of  Jackson's  theory  that  offices 
should  be  "  passed  around."  In  Peel's  act,  on  the  other 
hand,  no  term  was  fixed  for  the  commissioners,  and  that 
parliament  intended  the  administrative  head  of  the  force 
to  remain  during  good  behavior  was  evidenced  by  the 
fact  that  the  first  incumbent.  Sir  Richard  Mayne,  served 
39  years  as  chief  of  the  metropolitan  police,  building  up 
by  his  own  initiative  and  statesmanship  what  is  probably, 
even  today,  the  most  efficient  police  organization  in  Eu- 
rope.^ 

In  still  another  important  respect  did  the  New  York 
act  of   1857  differ  from  the  English  act  from  which  it 

1  10  Geo.  IV,  Chap.  44.  See  the  author's  European  Police  Sys- 
leins.  Chap.  II. 

-  In  1856.  19  and  20  Vict.  c.  2.  The  heads  of  police  under  Peel's 
original  act  were  called  "justices."'  The  title  "commissioner"  was 
not  used  until  the  act  of  1839.     (.3  &  3  Vict.  c.  47.) 

^  See  European  Police  Systems,  Chap.  IV. 

83 


American  Police  Systems 

was  patterned.  It  provided  that  all  policemen  to  be 
eligible  for  appointment  must  have  lived  at  least  five  years 
within  the  limits  of  the  metropolitan  district.  This 
clause,  which  remains  to  the  present  time  one  of  the  guid- 
ing principles  of  American  municipal  civil  service,  was 
written  into  the  act  in  the  interests  of  party  patronage, 
on  the  theory  that  "  the  jobs  belong  at  home."  Sir  Rich- 
ard Mayne,  on  the  other  hand,  was  left  free  to  de^-elop 
his  force  as  he  saw  fit,  and  early  in  his  regime  he  estab- 
lished the  principle  which  has  effected  so  vitally  the  de- 
velopment of  the  London  force  of  recruiting  the  major 
part  of  his  men  outside  the  metropolitan  district. 

One  further  dissimilarity  between  the  two  acts  remains 
to  be  pointed  out :  the  widely  different  spirit  in  which  they 
were  conceived.  The  English  act  of  1829  was  a  non- 
partisan attempt,  scientifically  based,  to  remedy  an  in- 
efficient system.  The  New  York  act,  on  the  other  hand, 
represented  the  manoeuvering  of  a  Republican  legislature 
to  obtain  control  over  the  affairs  and  particularly  the  pat- 
ronage of  a  Democratic  city.^  To  be  sure,  the  situation 
in  New  York  was  desperate  and  cried  for  relief.  "  Mur- 
ders have  increased,"  said  the  report  of  the  Assembly 
Committee.  "  Highway  robberies  have  multiplied.  The 
escaped  convicts  of  other  states  and  cities  and  countries 
and  foreign  lands  have  been  allowed  to  congregate  to- 
gether and  agree  upon  schemes  to  plunder."  -  At  the 
same  time  a  law  conceived  in  a  spirit  of  party  advantage 

1  The  Republicans  had  swept  the  state  in  the  elections  of  1856, 
when  Governor  King  was  chosen.  They  repeated  their  success  in 
1858  in  electing  Governor  Morgan. 

2  Report  of  Assembly  Committee  on  Cities  and  Villages,  Assem- 
bly Documents  of  1857,  Doc.  No.  127,  p.  2. 

84 


Development  of  American  Police  Control 

can  seldom  become  an  instrument  of  permanent  public 
benefit.  Whatever  the  merit  of  the  law  of  1857,  its  use- 
fulness in  the  development  of  New  York's  police  force 
was  handicapped  by  the  crass  partisanship  to  which  it 
owed  its  birth.  Of  the  five  members  whom  the  governor 
appointed  on  the  first  board,  four  were  strong  Republican 
party  men,  while  the  fifth  belonged  to  the  American 
party.  ^ 

The  adoption  of  state  control  of  local  police  aroused  a 
storm  of  bitter  protest  in  New  York  City.  "  It  is  ab- 
horrent to  our  pride,  adverse  to  our  well-being  and  good 
government,  and  an  insult  to  our  intelligence,"  cried  the 
mayor>*  "  The  state  authorities  treat  us  as  if  we  were 
an  ignorant  province  with  no  rights  which  they  are  bound 
to  respect,"  was  the  declaration  of  the  board  of  aldermen. 
"  When  will  the  legislature  at  Albany  cease  to  consider  the 
functions  of  our  municipal  government  as  mere  spoils  to 
satiate  the  greediness  of  the  followers  of  a  temporary  po- 
litical majority?  "  ^  Mass  meetings  were  held  and  suits 
were  brought  to  test  the  constitutionality  of  the  new  act.^ 

1  See  New  York  Times,  April  16,  1857. 

-  Mavor  Fernando  Wood  in  the  New  York  Times,  February  19, 

1857- 

3  Board  of  Aldermen  Reports,  Vol.  134,  p.  456. 

*  The  act  was  held  constitutional  in  15  N.  Y.  532.  The  opinion  of 
Justice  Shankland  reads  in  part  as  follows :  "  How  has  the  local 
authority  of  that  great  city  (New  York)  discharged  its  duty  of 
local  government  to  its  citizens  of  the  state  at  large  in  protecting 
them  in  their  liberty,  life  and  property?  Let  the  statistics  of  crime 
answer  and  convict  that  authority  either  of  remissness  in  duty  or 
the  system  of  police  hitherto  in  force  as  radically  defective.  But  let 
the  cause  be  what  it  may,  which  has  paraly;:ed  the  arm  of  criminal 
law,  the  state  is  bound  to  protect  the  citizen  in  his  life  and  property 
irrespective  of  locality;  and  if  in  the  judgment  of  its  representa- 
tives the  local  authorities  have  failed  to  accomplish  this  object,  it 
was  their  duty  to  substitute  another  system  more  effectual  in  exe- 
cution."    (P.  556.) 

85 


American  Police  Systems 

"  It  lays  the  axe  to  the  great  principle  of  self-govern- 
ment " ;  "  it  poisons  the  very  springs  of  our  democratic 
institutions  " ;  "  it  is  the  invention  and  device  of  an  un- 
scrupulous political  party  " —  these  were  the  charges 
brought  against  the  plan  by  the  indignant  citizens  of  New 
York.i 

Especially  incensed  was  the  electorate  that  a  foreign 
pattern  had  been  followed  in  framing  the  law.  "  The 
originators  of  this  act,"  said  one  of  its  critics,  "  cast  their 
eyes  toward  the  British  metropolis  and  there  .  .  .  found 
the  desired  example  for  enslaving  American  citizens."  ^ 
Even  the  titles  "  superintendent  "  and  "  inspector,"  which 
had  been  adopted  in  the  new  act  from  the  London  force, 
came  in  for  savage  criticism.  The  minority  report  of 
the  assembly  committee  stated  the  case  as  follows : 

"  As  yielding  to  a  desire  entertained  by  many  per- 
sons to  copy  the  exploded  ideas  of  English  aristocracy, 
and  who  constitute  in  themselves  a  bad  imitation  of  the 
same  class  of  society  in  Europe,  the  minority  of  the 
Committee  cannot  permit  this  opportunity  to  pass  of 
protesting  against  the  adoption  of  the  worn-out  and 
peculiar  official  names  borne  by  officers  in  England  and 
other  portions  of  Europe,   as  indicative  of  the  par- 

1  Assembly  Documents  of  1858,  No.  40,  and  Senate  Documents,  No. 
46.  In  a  petition  presented  to  the  legislature  in  1858  the  repeal  of 
the  law  was  demanded  in  the  following  words :  "  The  people  of  the 
Metropolitan  police  district  appeal  to  the  legislature  to  restore  to 
them  their  ancient  rights.  They  have  been  deprived  of  them  against 
their  earnest  remonstrance  and  without  cause  —  rights  which  have 
been  enjoyed  without  interruption  for  a  period  beyond  the  memory 
of  living  men  have  been  taken  away  for  no  higher  purpose  than  to 
swell  partisan  triumph  and  gratify  partisan  ambition."  (Senate 
Documents  of  1858,  No.  46,  pp.  12  and  13.) 

^  Assembly  documents  of  1858,  No.  40,  p.  4. 

86 


Development  of  American  Police  Control 

tiality  of  such  persons  to  degrade  the  sinipHcity  of  the 
straightforward  and  honest  use  of  the  EngHsh  lan- 
guage by  our  forefathers,  and  characteristic  of  repub- 
Hcan  institutions."  ^ 

Despite  the  protests  of  New  York,  which  cuhninated  in 
rioting  and  bloodshed,-  the  metropolitan  police  force  was 
organized.  Thereafter  for  thirteen  years  the  state  con- 
trolled the  policing  of  New  York  and  Brooklyn  and  the 
territory  in  the  surrounding  counties.  The  unhappy  po- 
litical auspices  under  which  this  method  of  control  was 
launched  continued  for  some  years  a  source  of  friction 
and  misunderstanding.  In  1859  a  special  committee  ap- 
pointed by  the  senate  reported  that  the  force  was  organ- 
ized "  less  with  regard  to  its  public  duties  than  to  its 
efficiency  as  a  political  machine."  ^  The  commissioners 
appointed  by  the  governor  were  found  to  be  "  distin- 
guished above  their  fellows  as  biter  partisans."  ■*  Dur- 
ing the  first  half  of  the  following  decade,  however,  the 

^  Assembly  documents  of  1857,  No.  149,  p.  7.  Similar  feeling  was 
aroused  in  Boston  when  a  Metropolitan  police  measure  for  that  city 
was  introduced  in  the  Massachusetts  legislature  in  1863.  "The 
proposers  of  this  measure,"  said  one  of  its  opponents,  "  hold  up  for 
our  example  the  system  of  London.  In  monarchies,  however,  the 
police  force  is  less  the  watchdog  of  the  cottage  than  the  bloodhound 
of  authority,  ever  ready  to  strike  its  fangs  into  the  feeble  and  needy." 
(Argument  of  Thomas  C.  Amory  before  the  Joint  Committee  of  the 
Legislature,  March  15,  1863  —  a  pamphlet.) 

-  Mayor  Wood  refused  to  recognize  the  authority  of  the  commis- 
sioners appointed  by  the  governor  and  insisted  on  maintaining  his 
own  municipal  police.  A  series  of  serious  clashes  between  the  two 
police  bodies  ensued  and  it  became  necessary  to  call  out  the  militia 
to  put  down  the  riots.  The  mayor  finally  submitted  to  the  metro- 
politan board.  A  vivid  picture  of  this  period  is  shown  in  George  W. 
Waiting's  Recollections  of  a  Neiv  York  Chief  of  Police,  New  York, 
1887.  Chap.  4. 

3  Senate  documents  of  1859,  No.  113,  p.  4. 

*  Ibid.,  p.  7. 

87 


American  Police  Systems 

new  appointments  to  the  police  board  made  by  New 
York's  war  governor,  General  Morgan,  raised  the  force 
to  a  level  of  efficiency  which  it  had  not  previously  reached. 
In  1863  the  district  attorney  of  New  York  county  wrote 
of  the  police  as  being  "  entirely  popularized,  all  local 
jealousy  having  subsided."  ^  In  his  annual  message  of 
1862  Governor  Morgan  spoke  of  the  metropolitan  force 
as  a  "  system  of  police  which  has  proved  itself  under  try- 
ing circumstances  and  careful  scrutiny  equal  to  the  ob- 
jects sought  in  its  establishment."  ^  In  1864  Recorder 
Hoffman  in  a  charge  to  the  Grand  Jury  of  New  York 
County  expressed  himself  as  follows:  "We  have  one 
of  the  most  complete  police  forces  in  the  world  —  a  force 
that  is  approaching  as  near  to  perfection  as  ever  can  be 
attained  in  this  city  and  county  of  ours."  ^  The  news- 
papers of  the  time  reflect  similar  opinions.  The  New 
York  Tribune  said  in  1864: 

"  The  police  force  is  loyal  to  the  commissioners  be- 
cause the  commissioners  are  faithful  to  their  duties, 
without  fear  or  favor.  Every  man  among  them  knows 
that  his  political  character  has  nothing  to  do  with  his 
standing,  which  depends  solely  upon  the  way  in  which 
he  discharges  his  duty  as  a  policeman.  .  .  .  The  com- 
missioners are  respected  without  regard  to  their  politics 

1  This,  with  other  letters,  was  printed  in  Massachusetts  Senate 
Documents  of  1865,  No.  171,  at  the  time  when  it  was  proposed  in  the 
legislature  to  adopt  state  control  for  Boston's  police  force.  Two 
years  earlier  a  similar  but  equally  fruitless  attempt  had  the  support 
of  Wendell  Phillips.  (See  his  speech  "On  a  Metropolitan  Police," 
printed  in  pamphlet  form  from  the  Boston  Traveller,  April  5,  1863.) 

2  Journal  of  the  Senate  of  the  State  of  New  York,  January  7,  1862. 

3  Mass.  Senate  Documents  of  1865,  No.  171. 

88 


Development  of  American  Police  Control 

because  they  are  devoted  to  the  duties  of  their  office  and 
are  fearless  and  energetic  in  their  performance."  ^ 

Despite  this  favorable  situation  a  change  in  the  organ- 
ization of  the  board  was  made  in  1864.  In  i860  the 
membership  of  the  board  had  been  reduced  from  five  to 
three  and  the  c.v  ofFicio  participancy  of  the  mayors  of 
New  York  and  Brooklyn  had  been  eliminated.^  The  new 
law  of  1864  increased  the  membership  to  four  and  took 
the  appointing  power  out  of  the  hands  of  the  governor 
altogether,  vesting  it  in  the  entire  legislature.  This 
change  was  due  both  to  the  desire  of  a  Republican  legis- 
lature to  curb  the  power  of  a  Democratic  governor  ^  and 
to  the  growing  feeling  that  the  political  complexion  of 
the  board  should  be  bi-partisan.  In  this  latter  respect 
this  act  marked  the  beginning  of  a  movement  which 
spread  throughout  the  United  States  wherever  the  board 
form  of  control  had  been  adopted.  The  act  itself  did 
not  directly  specify,  as  was  later  done  in  so  many  cases, 
that  the  board  should  be  bi-partisan  in  membership ;  it 
was,  however,  a  gentleman's  agreement,  thoroughly  un- 
derstood by  both  political  parties,  and  from  that  time  until 
state  control  of  police  was  abolished  in  1870'*  the  board 
was  composed  of  two  Republicans  and  two  Democrats 
elected  by  the  legislature.  "  The  satisfaction  at  this  re- 
sult is  very  general,"  said  the  New  York  Tribune  when 

'^  New  York  Tribune,  January  4  and  12,  1864. 

-  Laws  of  N.  Y.,  i860,  Chap.  259. 

3  Governor  Seymour.  He  attempted  to  remove  the  appointees  of 
his  predecessor,  Governor  Morgan,  alleging  as  justification  the  fail- 
ure of  the  police  properly  to  handle  the  draft  riots  of   1863. 

*  Laws  of  N.  Y.,  1870,  Chap.  137. 

89 


American  Police  Systems 

the  act  was  passed.  "  Both  parties  are  represented  .  .  . 
and  the  organization  of  the  pohce  will  be  used,  we  hope 
and  believe,  for  the  purposes  for  which  it  was  created, 
uninfluenced  by  partisan  bias,  and  for  the  protection  of 
the  life  and  property  of  citizens." 


"  1 


The  Extension  of  State-controlled  Systems. 

The  development  of  the  state-controlled  police  force  in 
New  York  City  has  been  shown  in  considerable  detail 
because  of  its  pronounced  influence  upon  police  organiza- 
tion and  municipal  government  generally  throughout  the 
United  States.  Following  the  precedent  established  in 
1857  the  state  legislature  invaded  function  after  function 
of  New  York  City's  government.  The  park  commission, 
the  fire  brigade,  the  health  department  and  other  branches 
of  local  service  were  placed  under  state  boards  and  the 
example  was  widely  followed  in  all  parts  of  the  country, 
so  that  in  many  cities  the  duties  and  powers  of  the  mayor 
and  council  were  materially  circumscribed  and  reduced. 

State  control  of  local  police  bodies  became  especially 
popular.  The  plan  was  adopted  for  Baltimore  in  i860, 
with  a  board  of  four  commissioners  chosen  by  the  state 
legislature.^  With  the  exception  of  an  interregnum  dur- 
ing the  Civil  War,  when  the  city  was  under  martial  law,^ 

1  New  York  Tribune,  March  16,  1864. 

-  Laws  of  Md.,  i860,  Chap.  7.  The  mayor  was  also  a  mem- 
ber ex  officio.  The  act  provided  among  other  things  that  "  no  Black 
Republican  or  endorser  or  approver  of  the  Helper  Book  (The  Im- 
pending Crisis  by  Hinton  R.  Helper)  shall  be  appointed  to  any 
office  under  said  board."  The  constitutionality  of  the  act  was  up- 
held in  Baltimore  v.  State  Board  of  Police,  15  Md.  376. 

3  In  June,  1861,  General  Banks  of  the  Federal  forces  arrested  the 
police  commissioners  and  the  marshal  of  police.  Colonel  Kane,  and 
himself  appointed  a  board  of  nine  commissioners  to  manage  the 
force  of  the  department.    This  condition  lasted  for  more  than  a  year. 

90 


Development  of  American  Police  Control 

the  police  department  has  ever  since  been  controlled  by  a 
state  board,  although  the  form  of  the  board  has  several 
times  been  altered.^  A  similar  arrangement  was  made 
for  St.  Louis  in  1861,  when  the  police  force  was  placed 
under  the  management  of  a  Ijoard  of  four  commissioners 
appointed  by  the  governor  with  the  consent  of  the  senate.^ 
Kansas  City's  board  of  three  commissioners  under  simi- 
lar control  was  instituted  in  the  same  year.^  In  the  case 
of  both  cities  the  step  was  influenced  by  the  necessity, 
arising  from  the  location  of  Missouri  as  a  border  state 
during  the  war,  of  maintaining  a  strong,  centralized  con- 
trol over  the  forces  of  order.  This  arrangement  of  1861 
has  remained  practically  unaltered  to  the  present  day.* 
In  the  same  year,  too,  the  legislature  of  Illinois  provided 
Chicago  with  a  board  of  three  police  commissioners  ap- 
pointed by  the  governor  with  the  consent  of  the  senate 
for  terms  of  two,  four  and  six  years  respectively,  their 
successors  to  be  elected  by  the  citizens  of  the  city.^  This 
act  was  prompted  solely  by  partisan  politics.     The  Repub- 

1  A  board  of  two  citizens  elected  by  the  legislature,  serving  with 
the  tnaj'or  ex  oflicio,  was  established  in  1862  (Laws  of  Md..  1862, 
Chap.  131).  In  1867  a  board  of  three  commissioners  was  established, 
elected  by  the  legislature,  the  participancy  of  the  mayor  as  an  ex 
oflicio  member  being  omitted  (Laws  of  Md.,  1867,  Chap.  367).  In 
1900  the  law  was  amended  so  as  to  provide  for  a  board  of  three,  ap- 
pointed by  the  governor  with  the  consent  of  the  senate,  not  more 
than  two  of  the  three  being  allowed  from  the  same  political  party 
(Laws  of  Md.,  1900,  Chap.  15). 

2  Laws  of  Mo.,  1861,  p.  446. 

3  Laws  of  Mo.,  1861  (Gen.  Laws,  p.  446;  Local  Laws  of  Called 
Session,  p.  63).  In  both  St.  Louis  and  Kansas  City  the  mayor  was 
ex  officio  a  member  of  the  board. 

*  The  St.  Louis  law  underwent  slight  amendment  in  1890  (Laws 
of  Mo.,  1899,  p.  51)  but  the  principles  remained  the  same.  The 
Kansas  City  act  was  amended  the  same  year  (Laws  of  .Mo.,  1899, 
p.  65),  the  board  of  three  being  changed  to  two,  with  the  mayor 
ex  officio. 

5  Public  Laws  of  111.,  1861,  p.  151. 

91 


American  Police  Systems 

licans  controlled  the  state  government  while  the  city  of 
Chicago  was  in  the  hands  of  the  Democrats.  The  board 
appointed  by  the  governor  in  compliance  with  the  act  was 
entirely  Republican  in  complexion  and  the  force  for  the 
next  two  years  was  managed  entirely  in  the  interests  of 
the  party.  In  1863,  however,  the  Democrats  gained  con- 
trol of  the  legislature  and  the  police  act  was  amended,  re- 
ducing the  terms  of  the  commissioners  from  six  to  three 
years  and  providing  for  their  election  at  large  by  the 
voters  of  Chicago.-^  Under  this  arrangement  the  board 
passed  into  the  hands  of  the  Democrats  and  state  control 
in  the  shape  of  gubernatorial  appointment  was  elimi- 
nated.- 

Detroit  was  the  next  important  city  to  which  a  state 
controlled  police  board  was  given.  In  1865,  against  the 
protests  of  a  large  section  of  the  city,  a  Republican  legis- 
lature passed  an  act  creating  a  board  of  four  commis- 
sioners appointed  by  the  governor  with  the  consent  of  the 
senate.^  "  There  is  no  necessity  of  any  such  law  as  is 
asked  for  by  some  of  our  Republican  politicians,"  said  the 
Detroit  Free  Press.  "  We  think  the  people  of  the  city 
of  Detroit  are  quite  as  competent  to  manage  their  own 
affairs  as  the  people  of  any  of  the  cities  and  villages  of 
the  interior  (of  the  state)."  ^     State  police  control,  how- 

1  Private  Laws  of  111.,  1863,  p.  40. 

-  In  1865  the  Republicans  regained  control  of  the  legislature  and 
the  police  act  was  again  amended,  so  that  the  members  of  the  police 
board  were  chosen  by  the  electors  of  Cook  County  rather  than  by 
the  electors  of  the  city  of  Chicago,  on  the  theory  that  Cook  County 
would  be  less  likely  to  return  a  Democratic  board.  The  six-year 
term  was  restored.     (Private  Laws  of  111.,  1865,  p.  284.) 

3  Laws  of  Mich.,  1865,  No.  78. 

*  Detroit  Free  Press,  January  12,  and  January  20,  1865.  A  vigor- 
ous attack  was  made  on  the  metropolitan  bill  in  the  state  legislature, 
on  the  ground  that  "  such  legislation  as  this  is  a  fatal  assault  upon 

92 


Development  of  American  Police  Control 

ever,  was  instituted  and  continued  in  effect  in  Detroit  for 
twenty-six  years. ^ 

This  example  was  followed  by  Cleveland  in  1866.- 
The  Cleveland  law-,  howe\er,  grew  out  of  a  wide-spread 
dissatisfaction  with  existing  police  conditions  and  ap- 
pears to  have  been  warmly  supported  by  the  city's  elec- 
torate. "  The  Police  Department  was  a  huge  political 
machine,''  said  the  Cleveland  Herald  ten  years  later  in 
reviewing  the  history  of  the  force.  "  The  chief  of  po- 
lice was  elected  by  popular  vote.  With  the  election  can- 
vass dawned  the  halcyon  days  of  the  thieves  and  bum- 
mers w^ho  had  votes  to  give  or  who  could  control  votes. 
They  were  the  masters  of  the  police  instead  of  the  police 
being  their  masters."  ^  To  correct  these  conditions  the 
metropolitan  system  was  instituted.  It  lasted,  however, 
but  two  years.  Skilfully  engineered  by  a  political  clique, 
popular  prejudice  rose  against  "  government  from  Co- 
lumbus," and  with  a  change  of  party  control  in  the  legis- 
lature, local  management  of  police  was  re-established  in 
the  shape  of  a  board  of  four  commissioners  elected  by 
the  people.'* 

the  great  principle  of  American  freedom."  (Detroit  Free  Press, 
January  20,  18^)5.) 

1  It  was  superseded  by  a  board  of  four  commissioners  appointed 
by  the  mayor.  (Local  -Acts  of  Mich.,  i8gi.  No.  349).  In  1871, 
as  a  result  of  a  political  quarrel,  the  legislature  amended  the  act  so 
as  to  take  the  appointments  out  of  the  hands  of  the  governor  tem- 
porarily by  specifically  designating  four  men  to  serve  as  commis- 
sioners. This  act  provided,  however,  that  vacancies  thereafter  were 
to  be  filled  by  the  governor  as  before.  (Laws  of  Mich.,  187 1, 
No.  479.) 

-  Laws  of  Ohio,  1866,  p.  104.  The  act  provided  for  a  board  of  four 
commissioners  appointed  by  the  governor  with  the  consent  of  the 
senate,  serving  with  the  mayor  ex  officio. 

3  Cleveland  Herald,  Jan.  17,  1876. 

*Laws  of  Ohio,   1868,  p.  45.     This  law  provided  for  the  election 

93 


American  Police  Systems 

By  this  time  state  control  of  police  forces  had  become 
a  popular  principle  of  government.  There  was  scarcely 
an  important  city  in  the  country  in  which  this  system  was 
not  tried  or  its  adoption  strongly  urged.  Following  the 
example  of  the  northern  cities  the  plan  was  instituted  in 
New  Orleans  in  1868  and  was  maintained  for  nine  years. ^ 
Cincinnati's  force  was  controlled  by  a  state  board  from 
1877  to  1880-  and  from  1886  to  1902.^  Indianapolis 
had  a  similar  system  from  1883  to  iS'91.^  Omaha's  state 
board  plan  was  established  in  1887  and  with  some  modi- 
fications lasted  for  ten  years.^  San  Francisco  had  what 
virtually  amounted  to  state  control  through  the  creation 
in  1877  of  a  board  appointed  by  the  three  judges  of  the 
4th,  1 2th  and  15th  judicial  districts  of  California.^     The 

of  a  police  commissioner  from  each  of  four  districts  to  be  estab- 
lished by  the  city  council.  The  city  council,  however,  failed  to  estab- 
lish the  districts,  and  for  the  next  four  years  the  mayor  assumed 
temporary  charge  of  the  force.  In  1872  a  law  was  passed  providing 
for  a  board  of  four  commissioners  elected  at  large  (Laws  of  Ohio, 
1872,  page  28).  Thereafter  until  1891,  the  Cleveland  police  force 
was  managed  by  an  elective  board. 

1  Acts  of  La.,  1868,  No.  i,  as  amended  by  Acts  of  1869,  No. 
92.  This  law  which  was  drawn  by  a  Republican  legislature  to 
control  the  city  of  New  Orleans  enabled  the  governor  to  appoint  a 
board  of  five  police  commissioners.  The  police  district  included 
not  only  the  city  of  New  Orleans  but  the  parishes  of  Orleans,  Jefifer- 
son  and  St.  Bernard.  The  commissioners  were  given  broad  powers 
of  subpoena  and  the  right  to  call  out  the  military. 

The  metropolitan  police  force  created  under  this  act  was  splen- 
didly manned  and  equipped  and  organized  as  a  military  body.  Its 
members  were  armed  with  rifles.  Growing  out  of  the  conditions 
arising  from  the  Civil  War,  its  evident  intent  was  to  over-awe  the 
people  of  New  Orleans.  It  gave  way  in  1877  to  a  police  board  of 
four  commissioners  appointed  by  the  mayor.  (Acts  of  La.,  1877, 
E.  S.,  No.  35.) 

2  Laws  of  Ohio,  1876,  p.  70. 

3  Laws  of  Ohio,  1886,  p.  47. 

*  Laws  of  Ind.,  1883,  Chap.  74. 
^  Laws  of  Neb.,  1887,  Chap.  10. 
6  Statutes  of  Cal.,  1877-78,  Chap.  558. 

94 


Development  of  American  Police  Control 

failure  of  this  law  to  provide  for  vacancies  on  the  board 
threw  subsequent  appointments  into  the  hands  of  the 
.c^overnor  ^  who  exercised  the  power  until  the  "  eternal 
board,''  as  it  was  called,  was  superseded  by  municipal 
control  under  the  San  Francisco  Charter  of  1900.^  The 
police  force  of  Charleston,  S.  C,  was  under  the  control 
of  a  state  board  for  one  year,  1896-1897.^  A  similar 
system  was  in  force  in  fourteen  cities  of  Indiana  during 
the  years  1897-1909."* 

Of  the  large  cities  in  the  United  States  with  state  ap- 
pointed police  commissions  Boston  was  among  the  last 
to  adopt  the  system.  It  was  instituted  in  iS'85  under  the 
belief  —  frankly  avowed  at  the  time  —  that  the  laws 
against  the  illegal  sale  of  liquor  could  in  no  other  way  be 
impartially  executed."''  Since  1878  Boston  had  had  a 
board  of  three  commissioners  appointed  by  the  mayor 
with  the  approval  of  the  council.'^  To  this  board  was 
given  the  right  to  license  liquor  saloons  under  a  law  which 
limited  the  number  of  such  places  in  Boston.  As  licenses 
were  for  one  year  only  it  was  possible  to  confine  them 
to  those  applicants  who,  through  campaign  contributions 
or  otherwise,  stood  well  with  the  administration.  So 
close  was  the  relation  between  the  politicians  and  the  po- 
lice department  that  a  nominee  to  the  board  of  commis- 

1  Under  Article  V,  Sec.  8,  of  the  state  constitution,  giving  the 
governor  power  to  fill  otifices  for  which  no  other  provision  was  made. 

-  Statutes  of  Cal.,  1899,  Concurrent  and  Joint  Resolutions,  Chap.  II. 

3  Acts  of  S.  C.  1894,  No.  533. 

♦  Laws  of  Ind.,  1897,  Chap.  LIX.  The  cities  were  .Anderson, 
Elkhart,  Elwood,  Hammond,  jeffersonville,  Kokomo,  Lafayette,  Lo- 
gansport,  Marion,  Muncie,  Michigan  City,  New  Albany,  Richmond, 
Vincennes. 

^  See  Boston  Evening  Transcript,  Feb.  6,  1885. 

8  Acts  of  Mass.,  1878,  Chap.  244. 

95 


American  Police  Systems 

sioners  could  not  be  confirmed  by  the  common  council 
without  an  exact  understanding  of  his  attitude  toward  the 
liquor  interests.^  This  situation  gave  rise  to  a  demand 
for  a  board  of  police  appointed  by  the  governor,  and 
through  the  instrumentality  of  a  Republican  legislature 
the  measure  was  introduced.  Democratic  Boston  met 
the  proposal  with  bitter  opposition.  "  To  say  that  Bos- 
ton has  not  the  intelligence  and  the  will  to  regulate  her 
own  immediate  concerns  is  an  insult  to  her  citizens,"  cried 
the  Globe.  "  The  metropolis  of  the  Commonwealth  is 
robbed  of  one  of  the  most  important  functions  of  self- 
government  in  order  to  gratify  the  malice  of  some,  the 
fanatical  notions  of  others,  and  the  political  interests  of 
many  more."  ^  Despite  the  opposition  which  was  largely 
political  in  character  the  measure  was  passed  ^  and  Bos- 
ton's police  department  has  ever  since  been  under  state 
control.  In  1906  the  board  of  three  was  reduced  to  a 
single  commissioner  * —  a  significant  step  representative 
of  a  broad  tendency  throughout  the  country.  This  de- 
velopment will  be  discussed  in  a  later  section. 

The  Decline  of  State  Control. 

In  the  foregoing  survey  w-e  have  traced  the  develop- 
ment of  the  boards  of  police  appointed  by  state  authority, 

1  My  authorities  are  the  Evening  Transcript  for  January,  February 
and  March,  1885,  and  the  testimony  before  the  Joint  Committee  of 
the  legislature  on  the  subject  of  the  state  board.  (See  Testimony 
upon  Petition  of  Amos  A.  Lawrence  and  others  to  establish  a  Metro- 
politan Police  Commission  in  the  State  House,  Boston.) 

2  March  20  and  April  17,  1885.  The  Boston  Evening  Transcript 
supported  the  measure. 

'•^  Acts  of  Mass.,  1885,  Chap.  323.  This  provided  for  three  commis- 
sioners appointed  by  the  governor  and  confirmed  by  the  executive 
council. 

*  Acts  of  Mass.,  igo6,  Chap.  291. 

96 


Development  of  American  Police  Control 

noting  the  subsequent  abandonment  of  the  plan  which 
followed  in  many  communities.  Of  the  twenty-three 
cities  in  the  United  States  whose  populations  exceeded 
250,000  according  to  the  census  estimates  of  1915,  state 
controlled  police  systems  had  at  difTerent  times  been  tried  in 
twelve.^  In  only  four  of  these  twelve  cities  do  such  sys- 
tems survive  to  the  present  day.-  The  rejection  of  this 
type  of  police  management  was  due  in  nearly  every  case 
to  one  of  two  factors:  political  manoeuvering  for  party 
advantage  or  a  belief,  more  or  less  sincerely  held,  in  the 
principle  of  home  rule.  Often  these  two  factors  were 
combined,  as  in  Cleveland,  for  example,  where,  as  we 
have  seen,  the  cr\-  for  home  rule  was  skilfully  incited  by 
the  local  Democratic  machine  in  1868  to  further  its  ow^n 
interests.  New  York's  experience  w'ith  a  state  board  was 
abruptly  terminated  in  1870  by  the  charter  through  which 
Tweed  fastened  his  grip  on  the  city's  treasury.  The 
state-controlled  police  force  stood  in  his  way  and  so  supine 
was  the  public  opinion  of  the  time  that  despite  the  attacks 
of  the  newspapers  he  swept  it  aside  with  an  arrogance 
unsurpassed  in  American  municipal  history.  "  Our  in- 
dependent police  department,''  said  the  New  York  Times, 
"  which  has  given  us  a  disciplined  and  uniformed  force 
in  place  of  a  vagabond  band  of  ragamuffins,  will  yield 
obedience  to  that  power  which  demands  free  rum  and 
votes  and  gives  us  police  justices  who  regularly  set  free 
fully  one-half  of  all  the  villains  the  police  properly  ar- 
rest." ^     "  By  the  passage  of  the  Tweed  charter,"  said 

^  Baltimore,  Boston,  Chicago,  Cincinnati,  Cleveland,  Detroit,  In- 
dianapolis, Kansas  City,  Mo.,  New  Orleans,  New  York,  San  Fran- 
cisco, St.  Louis. 

-  Baltimore,  Boston,  Kansas  City  and  St.  Louis. 

3  Feb.  9,  1870. 

97 


American  Police  Systems 

the  Stm,  "  New  York  has  become  a  free  city  —  that  is  to 
say,  free  to  be  plundered  more  than  ever  by  Tweed, 
Sweeny  and  their  chosen  friends."  ^  Under  such  circum- 
stances. New  York  returned  to  a  municipally  controlled 
police  force. 

Detroit's  change  from  state  control  to  local  control 
after  an  experience  of  twenty-six  years  was  due  largely 
to  the  dissatisfaction  which  tends  to  accumulate  against 
any  kind  or  form  of  governmental  mechanism.  The  ir- 
resistible temptation  of  the  state  authorities  to  use  the 
police  force  for  political  purposes,  the  occasional  weak- 
nesses which  the  department  displayed,  the  unpopularity 
which  it  incurred  in  many  c|uarters  in  its  attempts  to  en- 
force the  sumptuary  laws  —  all  these  things,  consciously 
and  unconsciously,  were  laid  to  the  form  of  control. 
Moreover,  the  feeling  was  growing  that  home  rule  repre- 
sented the  better  principle  of  municipal  management  and 
the  new  law  of  1891  which  eliminated  a  number  of  state 
appointed  boards  was  welcomed  as  an  intelligent  effort 
to  give  the  people  of  Detroit  an  effective  and  symmetrical 
system  of  self-government.^ 

In  New  Orleans,  the  metropolitan  police  force  was 
from  the  first  deeply  resented  as  a  Republican  measure  to 
overawe  a  conquered  city,  and  more  than  one  armed  clash 
occurred  between  its  members  and  the  citizens.^  On  sev- 
eral occasions  the  Republican  legislature  was  obliged  to 
come  to  the  rescue  of  the  department  when  the  local  au- 

1  April  8,  1870. 

2  See  Detroit  Evening  News,  June  3,  1891. 

3  A  monument  in  New  Orleans  commemorates  the  pitched  battle 
between  the  metropolitan  police  and  the  citizens  which  occurred 
Sept.  14,  1874,  in  which  the  former  were  put  to  flight. 

98 


Development  of  American  Police  Control 

thorities  of  the  city  or  the  parishes  included  within  the 
poHce  jurisdiction  failed  to  supply  the  necessary  funds 
which  the  law  had  assessed.^  On  at  least  one  occasion 
the  protest  of  the  local  officers  on  the  question  of  expense 
was  so  vigorous  and  determined  that  the  legislature  passed 
an  act  directing  the  board  of  commissioners  "  to  reduce 
the  metropolitan  police  force  in  such  manner  and  to  such 
extent  as  economy  and  the  limitations  of  expenditures 
empowered  by  law  may  require."  -  With  the  Democrats 
once  again  in  full  control  of  the  legislature  short  work- 
was  made  of  the  metropolitan  system. 

Cincinnati  experimented  twice  with  a  state-controlled 
board,  the  first  period  covering  three  years  and  the  second 
sixteen  years.  The  first  experiment  was  rejected  in  1880 
without  fair  trial  for  reasons  which  were  purely  and 
openly  political.  The  mayor  of  Cincinnati,  under  the 
guise  of  home  rule,  sought  control  of  the  police  to  carry 
the  primaries  and  elections  for  his  party.^  Once  re-estab- 
lished under  municipal  management  the  police  entered 
upon  a  career  of  graft  and  peculation  which  has  made 
vivid  the  recollection  of  the  "  Boodle  Board  "  even  to  the 
present  time.  The  return  to  state  control  represented  the 
reaction  against  the  conditions  which  left  so  black  a  page 
in  Cincinnati's  municipal  history.  The  second  experi- 
ment with  a  state  board,  therefore,  beginning  in  1886, 
was  given  a  far  better  opportunity  to  prove  itself.  The 
end,  which  came  in  1902,  was  due  to  circumstances  not 
immediately   connected    with   Cincinnati.     The   political 

1  See  Acts  of  La.,  1873,  No.  64;  .Acts  of   1874,  Xo.  Z3;  Acts  of 
1875,  No.  16. 
-  Acts  of  La.,   1874,  No.  60. 
3  See  Cincinnati  Enquirer  for  January  and  February,  1880. 

99 


American  Police  Systems 

manoeiivering  resulting  from  the  fight  against  the  traction 
interests  in  Cleveland,  together  with  the  attempt  to  saddle 
a  state  police  board  on  the  city  of  Toledo,  had  led  to  the 
revolutionary  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Ohio 
under  which  the  old  mechanical  classification  of  cities  was 
done  away  with,  and  almost  the  entire  legal  foundation  of 
local  government  in  the  state  destroyed.*  The  legisla- 
ture, hastily  summoned  to  meet  the  extraordinary  situ- 
ation, passed  a  uniform  charter  applicable  to  every  city 
in  the  state."  Under  this  charter  the  police  department 
of  Cincinnati  passed  again  into  the  hands  of  the  municipal 
authorities.  In  other  words,  the  question  of  the  advan- 
tages or  disadvantages  of  a  state-controlled  police  force 
in  a  particular  city  was  lost  sight  of  in  the  demand  for  a 
uniform  system  of  local  government. 

In  this  manner  it  would  be  possible  to  show  in  city 
after  city  the  abandonment  of  the  plan  of  state-controlled 
police  boards.  Never  popular  at  any  time,  the  system 
fell  before  the  demand  of  the  cities  that  they  be  allowed 
to  handle  their  own  affairs  even  if  they  handled  them 
badly.  Whatever  its  merits  —  and  we  shall  try  to  ap- 
praise them  in  the  next  chapter  in  connection  with  those 
cities  in  which  the  plan  still  survives  —  the  discrimination 
which  it  marked  in  powers  of  self-government  as  between 

^  State  ex  rcl.  Knisely  v.  Jones,  66  Ohio  State,  453. 

2  Laws  of  Ohio,  1902.  Extraordinary  Session,  pp.  66  ff.  The  new 
law  called  "  The  municipal  code,"  provided  for  a  police  department 
under  two  or  four  "  directors  "  as  the  local  council  might  determine, 
not  more  than  half  from  the  same  political  party.  They  were  ap- 
pointed by  the  mayor  with  the  consent  of  two-thirds  of  the  council 
for  a  term  of  four  years.  The  Cleveland  council  chose  a  board  of 
two ;  the  Cincinnati  council,  a  board  of  four.  The  law  which  was 
palpably  designed  to  keep  the  police  of  the  cities  of  Ohio  in  Re- 
publican hands  represented  a  perversion  to  low  partisan  ends  of  a 
great  opportunity  in  municipal  reform. 

100 


Development  of  American  Police  Control 

city  and  country  districts  created  in  the  former  a  rankling' 
sense  of  injury.  Not  even  the  increased  efficiency  of  the 
poHce,  when  it  followed  under  the  state-controlled  plan, 
could  overcome  the  stigma  which  attached  to  a  form  of 
control  based,  impliedly  at  least,  on  the  theory  that  city 
populations  could  not  be  trusted  by  country  legislators 
to  run  their  own  affairs.  This  idea,  not  always  ex- 
pressed perhaps,  was  the  underlying  objection  which  in 
the  end  proved  fatal  to  the  wide  adoption  of  state-con- 
trolled boards. 

But  it  is  by  no  means  certain  that  state  control  of  local 
police  in  those  cities  where  it  was  temporarily  tried  ac- 
complished what  its  sponsors  professed  in  achance  to 
believe,  that  is,  the  elimination  of  politics  in  the  manage- 
ment of  the  force.  Indeed  the  evidence  indicates  just  the 
reverse.  The  police  department  w^as  merely  lifted  from 
one  set  of  political  influences  into  another.  Title  was 
transferred  to  a  new  group  of  political  overlords.  Con- 
trol of  the  police  was  a  prize  to  be  fought  for  and  owned 
—  the  legitimate  spoils  of  victory.  As  we  shall  see  in  the 
next  chapter,  political  considerations  can  enter  through 
state  management  as  readily  as  through  municipal  man- 
agement, and  no  mechanical  organization  or  form  of  ad- 
ministrative machinery  can  be  made  proof  against  parti- 
san practices  if  partisans  themselves  are  set  to  run  it. 
When  the  Denver  department  was  under  state  control  in 
1893  the  governor  of  Colorado  removed  the  commissioner 
of  police  for  the  openly  avowed  reason  that  "  the  good 
of  the  Populist  party  in  Colorado  demanded  it.''  ^     Den- 

^  Sec    History   of   the   Government   of  Denver  by  Clyde   Lyndon 
King.     Denver,  lyii,  pp.  211-213. 

lOI 


American  Police  Systems 

ver  had  long  been  irretrievably  Republican  and  little  sym- 
pathy existed  between  the  city  and  the  state  administra- 
tion. In  the  bitter  struggle  which  subsequently  developed 
the  governor  was  obliged  to  call  out  the  militia  to  enforce 
his  decrees.  State  control  of  police  in  Providence,  Rhode 
Island,  was  marked  by  continuous  political  skirmishes  be- 
tween the  Democratic  governor  and  the  Republican  senate 
over  the  appointments  to  the  police  board.  Similarly, 
under  state  control  in  Minneapolis  from  1889  to  1891 
political  bargaining  and  party  advancement  were  the  chief 
factors  in  the  administration  of  the  force. 

In  other  words,  there  was  little  to  choose  between  state 
board  and  municipal  board.  One  was  as  permeated  with 
politics  as  the  other.  The  question  was  a  matter  not  of 
principle  but  of  party  victory.  State  control  represented 
the  tactics  employed  by  one  party  to  seize  the  elections, 
and  municipal  control,  the  tactics  of  the  other  party,  and, 
as  in  Cincinnati  for  example,  the  type  of  board  see-sawed 
back  and  forth  as  party  victory  alternated.  The  matter 
was  never  fought  out  on  its  merits,  never  tested  from  an 
unbiased,  disinterested  standpoint.  Seldom  if  ever  were 
the  people  of  a  city  given  an  opportunity  to  pass  fairly  and 
directly  upon  the  question  of  retaining  after  trial  the  state 
controlled  form  of  organization.  In  most  cases,  as  we 
have  seen,  the  question  was  complicated  by  political  cross- 
currents and  obscured  by  extraneous  and  irrelevant  con- 
troversies, and  changes  were  made  from  state  control  to 
local  control  without  adequate  discussion  and  with  no  at- 
tempt to  ascertain  whether  the  former  system  had  or  had 
not  proved  a  success. 

102 


Development  of  American  Police  Control 
The  Bi-partisan  Board. 

The  state  controlled  board  was  ostensibly  a  method  for 
taking  the  police  department  out  of  politics.  Another 
method,  devised  for  the  same  end  and  applied  alike  to 
state  and  municipal  boards,  was  the  so-called  bi-partisan 
principle.  This  principle  was  instituted,  as  we  have  seen, 
in  New  York  in  1864  when  the  state  board  of  police  was 
increased  from  three  members  to  four  members  on  the 
understanding  that  two  should  be  appointed  from  the  Re- 
publican party  and  two  from  the  Democratic.  This  ar- 
rangement was  continued  through  the  Tweed  charter  of 
1870  until  1873  when  an  act  was  passed  increasing  the 
board  to  five  members.^  The  following  year,  however, 
the  number  was  restored  to  four.-  and  thereafter  for  27 
years  this  form  of  control  was  in  effect.  Until  1895  no 
mention  was  made  in  the  law  of  the  bi-partisan  principle, 
although,  with  the  exception  of  two  or  three  instances,^ 
it  was  rigorously  adhered  to  as  an  unwritten  understand- 
ing. Upon  the  recommendation  of  the  Le.Kow  Commis- 
sion in  1895,  however,  the  bi-partisan  theory  was  written 

^  Laws  of  N.  Y.,  1873.  Chap.  335.  The  provision  was  savagely 
assailed  by  the  New  York  newspapers.  "The  only  defense  for  the 
provision."  said  the  New  York  Times,  "  is  that  it  will  afford  places 
for  additional  dependents  on  political  patronage."     (April  2,  1873.) 

'  Laws  of  N.  Y.,  1874,  Chap.  300.  "  As  for  the  '  fifth  commis- 
sioner,' "  said  the  New  York  Times,  "  he  is  only  a  battle  ground 
for  parties,  and  it  will  be  an  excellent  plan  to  get  rid  of  him  alto- 
gether. .  .  .  To  insure  equal  justice  for  both  sides  let  both  be  equally 
represented."     (April  23,  1874.) 

^  In  1892.  for  example,  when  the  term  of  a  Republican  police  com- 
missioner expired.  Mayor  Grant  filled  the  vacancy  by  the  selection 
of  a  Democrat,  and  until  1894  the  comnu'ssion  consisted  of  a  Re- 
publican commissioner,  an  Independent  Democrat  commissioner,  and 
two  Tammany  commissioners.  (See  report  of  the  Lexow  Commis- 
sion, page  66.) 


American  Police  Systems 

into  the  law/  remaining  in  effect  until  the  present  single 
commissioner  system  was  adopted  in  1901.^ 

The  bi-partisan  principle  was  eagerly  seized  upon 
throughout  the  country  wherever  the  board  form  of  con- 
trol was  in  force.  Based  upon  the  theory  that  politics 
can  never  be  eliminated  from  the  management  of  the  po- 
lice department  it  was  adopted  as  a  fair  and  practical  ar- 
rangement of  minimizing  the  effects  of  politics  by  set- 
ting one  partisan  administrator  to  watch  another.  The 
fact  that  the  machinery  of  elections  was  largely  under  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  police  gave  the  argument  for  the  bi- 
partisan system  additional  force.  It  was  hoped  that 
natural  distrust  of  each  other  by  the  different  party  repre- 
sentatives on  the  board  would  breed  a  vigilance  fatal 
to  the  political  manoeuvering  of  any  one  of  them, 
and  that  from  this  condition  a  genuinely  non-partisan 
management  of  the  force  could  be  secured.  As  the  re- 
port of  the  Lexow  Commission  in  New  York  expressed 
it :  "A  bi-partisan  board  conveys  a  distinct  declaration 
to  its  subordinates  that  they  must  conduct  themselves 
upon  non-partisan  lines,  and  that  neither  favor,  reward, 
nor  promotion  may  be  expected  from  aggressive  parti- 
sanship." ^ 

Upon  this  theory,  therefore,  the  bi-partisan  principle 
was  widely  adopted  —  at  first,  in  the  form  of  a  tacit  un- 
derstanding not  recognized  by  law,  as  in  New  York  and 
Baltimore,  but  later  written  into  the  law  itself.     Such  an 

^  Laws  of  N.  Y.,  1895,  Chap.  569.  Section  i  read  as  follows : 
"  At  no  time  shall  more  than  two  such  commissioners  belong  to  the 
same  political  party,  nor  be  of  the  same  political  opinion  on  state 
and  national  issues.'' 

2  Laws  of  N.  Y.,  1901,  Chap.  33. 

3  Report  of  the  Lexow  Commission,  p.  58. 

104 


Development  of  American  Police  Control 

act  was  passed  for  Indianapolis  ^  in  1883.  Boston,-  Mil- 
waukee,^ and  Newark'*  followed  in  1885.  Cincinnati's 
state  board  of  1886''^  was  bi-partisan  and  the  plan  was 
continued  in  the  municipal  boards  established  in  all  the 
cities  of  Ohio  by  the  general  code  of  1902/'  Similarly 
the  bi-partisan  principle  was  adopted  in  Minneapolis  in 
the  municipal  board  of  1887''  and  the  state  board  of 
1889.^  Omaha  adopted  the  system  in  her  state  board 
of  1887.''  San  Francisco's  bi-partisan  board  was  in- 
augurated in  1899  ^"  and  Baltimore's  in  1900.^^ 

The  bi-partisan  principle  proved  in  most  cases  an  un- 
successful experiment.  Indeed  the  theory  that  police  ad- 
ministrators are  to  be  selected  not  on  the  grounds  of  fit- 
ness but  because  they  are  party  favorites  had  far-reaching 
and  often  disastrous  consequences.  Under  this  system 
the  boards  were  composed  of  extreme  and  often  un- 
scrupulous representatives,  chosen  equally  from  the  two 
dominant  parties,  and  subservient  to  the  bosses  to  whom 
they  owed  their  appointments.  Representing  on  the 
board  not  the  public  but  their  political  organizations  they 
were  regarded  as  under  obligation  to  gain  for  their  par- 
ties all  possible  advantages  in  the  way  of  patronage  and 
power.     When  Mayor  Van  Wyck  of  New  York  in  1898 

^  Laws  of  Ind.,  1883,  Chap.  74. 

2  Acts  of  Mass.,  1885,  Chap.  323. 

3  Laws  of  Wis.,  1885,  Vol.  H,  Chap.  378. 

*  General  Public  Laws  of  N.  J.,  1885,  Chap.  250. 
5  Laws  of  Ohio,  1886,  p.  47. 

^  Laws  of  Ohio,  1902,  Extraordinary  Session,  p.  66. 
^  Special  Laws  of  Minn.,  1887,  Chap.  9. 
®  Special  Laws  of  Minn..  1889,  Chap.  51. 
^  Laws  of  Neb.,  1887,  Chap.  10. 

1°  Statutes    of    Cal.,     1899,     Concurrent     and    Joint     Resolutions, 
Chap.  n. 
^1  Laws  of  Md.,  1900,  Chap.  15. 

105 


American  Police  Systems 

appointed  on  the  police  board  two  Tammany  district 
leaders  and  two  Republican  district  leaders  he  followed 
a  custom  well  established  not  only  in  his  own  city  but 
wherever  the  bi-partisan  principle  was  in  effect.  It  was 
the  logical  outcome  of  the  theory  that  non-partisan  ad- 
ministration can  be  secured  only  through  conflicting  par- 
tisan interests.  The  chaos  and  corruption  which  fol- 
lowed in  the  New  York  police  department  during  the 
Van  Wyck  administration  were  directly  traceable  to  the 
fact  that  the  police  commissioners  had  been  appointed 
not  to  cooperate  for  public  advantage  but  to  fight  each 
other  for  party  gain. 

The  bi-partisan  board  failed  in  its  principal  object.  It 
aimed  to  eliminate  politics  by  taking  the  police  depart- 
ment out  of  the  hands  of  a  single  party;  it  actually 
strengthened  the  grip  of  politics  on  the  department  by 
turning  it  over  to  the  keeping  of  both  parties.  Instead 
of  a  non-partisan  administration  it  resulted  in  a  pooling 
of  interests  and  spoils  by  the  party  representatives  on  the 
board  and  a  subsequent  division  highly  advantageous  to 
both  political  organizations.  In  many  cases  the  commis- 
sioners did  not  hesitate  to  combine  against  public  inter- 
ests for  party  gain.  For  years  in  New  York  under  the 
bi-partisan  system  appointments  and  promotions  were 
officially  "  credited  "  to  the  commissioners  responsible  for 
them  and  no  one  commissioner  was  allowed  to  have  more 
than  his  share.^  The  glamor  of  justice  about  the  ar- 
rangement hid  its  vicious  aspects  and  concealed  the  ob- 
vious truth  that  there  is  essentially  no  Republican  way 
and  no  Democratic  way  of  managing  a  police  department. 

1  Personally  communicated. 

io6 


Development  of  American  Police  Control 

The  bi-partisan  plan  of  police  control  has  been  largely 
discarded  throughout  the  United  States.  New  York, 
Boston,  Cleveland,  Toledo,  Cincinnati,  Minneapolis,  Buf- 
falo, Albany  and  Omaha  have  all  relinquished  it,  and  at 
the  present  time  it  is  retained  in  only  four  of  the  larger 
cities :  Baltimore,  San  Francisco,  Milwaukee  and  Indian- 
apolis. 

The  Passing  of  the  Police  Board. 

The  abandonment  of  the  bi-partisan  system  of  control, 
which  w'e  have  discussed  in  the  preceding  section,  was  due 
not  alone  to  the  glaring  weaknesses  which  it  developed. 
The  whole  plan  of  administrative  control  through  special 
boards  fell  gradually  into  disuse  and  the  bi-partisan  prin- 
ciple as  a  phase  or  outgrowth  of  that  system  shared  the 
same  fate. 

The  conception  of  a  multiple-headed  executive,  to 
which  the  board  method  of  management  easily  lends 
itself,  was  foredoomed  to  failure.  In  its  attempt  to  make 
a  group  of  people  jointly  answerable  for  the  supervision 
of  exacting  details  of  administration,  it  violates  the  cardi- 
nal principle  of  effective  control.  Ultimate  executive 
responsibility  is  not  readily  divisible  among  officers  of 
equal  rank  and  authority,  nor  can  the  burden  of  leader- 
ship be  distributed  among  a  group.  This  is  the  point  of 
weakness  in  the  board  plan  as  related  to  municipal  enter- 
prise. Resulting  from  a  confused  attempt  to  apply  legis- 
lative analogies  to  executive  functions,  it  fails  to  develop 
the  responsible  leadership  essential  to  successful  manage- 
ment. Divided  in  its  counsels,  decentralized  in  its  au- 
thority, with  no  unity  of  policy  or  solidarity  of  action,  it 

107 


American  Police  Systems 

has  gradually  given  place  to  a  more  effective  method  of 
control. 

In  its  adaptation  to  police  departments  the  board  form 
of  management  has  shown  perhaps  its  greatest  faults. 
The  function  of  police  administration  is  seldom  deliber- 
ative in  the  sense  in  which  the  word  is  used  to  denote  the 
legitimate  activities  of  a  board  of  directors  or  other  pol- 
icy-forming organ  of  control.  On  the  contrary,  proper 
police  management  involves  a  degree  of  initiative,  de- 
cisiveness and  vigor  which  can  be  displayed  only  in  single- 
headed  leadership.  "  It  is  a  matter  of  historical  and  gov- 
ernmental experience,"  said  Governor  Guild  of  Massa- 
chusetts, in  his  message  to  the  legislature  advocating  a 
single  police  commissioner  for  Boston,  "  that  inefficiency, 
if  not  disaster,  follows  divided  responsibility  in  the  con- 
trol of  any  organized  body  of  men,  where  discipline  and 
esprit  de  corps  must  be  the  mainspring  of  success."  ^ 

The  growing  belief  in  the  effectiveness  of  single-headed 
leadership  has  gradually  undermined  the  board  system  of 
management  in  American  police  departments.  In  only 
14  of  the  52  cities  over  100,000  population  which  at 
one  time  had  the  board  form  of  police  control  does  that 
form  exist  at  the  present  time.  In  all  other  cases  the 
one-man-control  system  has  been  substituted,  generally  in 
the  shape  of  a  commissioner  or  chief  appointed  by  local 
authority,  or,  in  the  case  of  commission-governed  cities, 
elected  by  the  people.     New  York  -  and  Detroit  ^  abol- 

1  Massachusetts  Senate  Documents  of  1906,  No.  i,  p.  28.  It  can- 
not be  denied  that  poHtical  considerations  may  have  had  some  influ- 
ence on  this  opinion. 

2  Laws  of  N.  Y.,  1901,  Chap.  33. 

3  Charter  of  1901,  Chap.  22J. 

108 


Development  of  American  Police  Control 

ished  their  police  boards  and  adopted  the  one  commis- 
sioner plan  in  1901,  Boston  in  1906/  Cleveland  in  1908,- 
Cincinnati  in  1908,^  Birmingham,  Alabama,  in  1911,'* 
Omaha  in  1912,^  St.  Paul  in  1914.*'  Buffalo  in  19 16 J 
Philadelphia  as  we  have  already  seen,  is  the  one  large  city 
which,  with  the  exception  of  a  nondescript  type  of  board 
from  1850  to  1854,  has  consistently  clung  to  the  principle 
of  single-headed  leadership  in  the  management  of  her  po- 
lice department.^  A  similar  plan  of  control  has  been 
maintained  in  Chicago  since  the  adoption  of  the  present 
charter  in  1875.'* 

The  Character  of  the  Development. 

The  history  of  the  development  of  American  police  or- 
ganization which  we  have  briefly  discussed  in  the  fore- 
going sections  presents  one  characteristic  of  outstanding 
prominence :  the  machinery  of  management  and  control 
has  been  subjected  to  endless  experiment  and  modifica- 
tion. Change  rather  than  stability  has  marked  its  course. 
With  the  exception  of  one  or  two  cities,  no  carefully 
thought  out  plan  of  supervision  has  been  fixed  upon  and 
maintained  as  a  type  most  likely  to  meet  legitimate  de- 

1  Acts  of  Mass.,  1906,  Chap.  291. 

-  Laws  of  Ohio,  1908,  p.  562.  Cleveland  previously  had  single- 
headed  nianageinent  under  the  so-called  "  Federal  "  plan  which  went 
into  effect  in  1891  (Laws  of  Ohio,  i8gi.  p.  105)  providing  for  a 
"Director  of  Police"  appointefl  by  the  Mayor.  This  arrangement 
was  superseded  by  the  board  form  of  control  which  the  ill-advised 
Municipal  Code  of  1902  made  necessary.     (See  ante,  p.  100.) 

•*  Laws  of  Ohio,  1908,  p.  562. 

^General  Laws  of  Ala.,  1911,  No.  163. 

''Laws  of  Neb.,  1911.  Chap.  24. 

•^Charter  of  1912,  Chap.  18. 

'■  Laws  of  N.  Y.,  1914,  Chap.  217. 

*  .See  ante,  pp.  77-7S. 

"  Laws  of  111.,  1875,  p.  43. 

T09 


American  Police  Systems 

mands  for  years  to  come.  Instead,  American  cities,  as  if 
in  panic,  have  rushed  from  one  device  to  another,  allow- 
ing little  or  no  time  for  the  experiment  last  installed  to 
prove  itself,  apparently  under  the  belief  that  somewhere 
or  in  some  fashion  a  form  of  machinery  could  be  found 
or  developed  which  would  ensure  perpetual  efficiency  and 
guarantee  the  lasting  integrity  of  its  operators.  With  this 
idea,  cities  have  tried  partisan  boards,  bi-partisan  boards, 
and  non-partisan  boards;  they  have  lodged  the  appoint- 
ment of  their  heads  of  police  in  the  hands  of  governors, 
legislatures,  mayors,  common  councils,  boards  of  public 
works,  attorney  generals,  judges  of  the  circuit  court,  pro- 
bate judges,  state  auditors,  state  commissioners  of  public 
buildings,  and  the  people  themselves ;  they  have  labori- 
ously Written  into  their  laws  elaborately  devised  checks 
and  balances,  covering  every  possible  contingency  of  ad- 
ministration and  every  item  of  probable  expense;  they 
have  borrowed  the  plans  of  other  cities  which  happened 
at  the  time  to  have  honest  police  executives,  or  they  have 
combined  the  plans  of  a  number  of  communities  in  fanci- 
ful arrangements  of  their  own,  in  which,  as  likely  as  not, 
an  elaborately  chosen  board  of  commissioners  with  full 
responsibility  and  no  powers  was  superimposed  on  a  chief 
of  police  with  wide  powers  and  no  responsibility.  For 
some  years  in  Dayton,  Ohio,  the  police  department  was 
administered  by  a  bi-partisan  board  of  four  police  direc- 
tors appointed  by  a  bi-partisan  board  of  six  tax  commis- 
sioners, who  in  turn  were  appointed  by  the  judges  of  the 
circuit  court,  these  last  officials  being  elected  by  the  peo- 
ple I^ 

189  O.  L.  106. 

1 10 


Development  of  American  Police  Control 

In  this  blind  search  for  the  "  ideal  system,"  this  l^elief 
in  the  efficacy  of  checks  and  balances,  if  only  the  proper 
combination  can  be  discovered,  continuity  has  been  sacri- 
ficed, and  the  existing  arrangements  have  again  and  again 
been  overturned.  In  the  91  years  in  which  the  Metro- 
politan police  organization  of  London  has  been  in  exist- 
ence, but  one  substantial  change  has  been  made  in  its  ma- 
chinery of  control,  and  that  was  in  1856,  when,  after  six 
years  of  trial  wdth  a  single-headed  commission  the  act  of 
1829  providing  for  two  commissioners  was  altered  to  fit 
the  new  condition.  In  the  75  years  in  which  New  York 
City  may  legitimately  be  said  to  have  had  a  regular  police 
force  nine  fundamental  changes,  involving  distinct  breaks 
with  the  past,  have  occurred  in  the  framework  of  her  or- 
ganization. Aldermanic  control  gave  way  to  local  board- 
control  which  in  turn  was  superseded  by  a  state  board  of 
seven;  the  membership  of  seven  was  reduced  to  three  and 
then  increased  to  four;  the  board  was  returned  to  munici- 
pal control  and  later  its  membership  increased  to  five;  the 
following  year  it  was  reduced  again  to  four;  later  still, 
it  was  made  bi-partisan  and  finally  the  single  commis- 
sioner plan  was  adopted. 

Comparisons  of  this  kind  could  be  drawn  without  num- 
ber. Amid  all  the  vicissitudes  of  empire,  kingdom  and 
republic,  the  control  of  the  Paris  police  organization  has 
remained  practically  without  change  from  the  hour  it  was 
established  by  Napoleon  over  a  century  ago.  Its  prefect 
is  today  appointed  by  the  Ministry  of  the  Interior  with 
the  approval  of  the  head  of  the  state  as  he  was  in  Fouche's 
time.  The  same  principle  of  continuity  holds  for  Berlin 
and  Vienna.     Similarly  the  machinery  of  police  control 

in 


American  Police  Systems 

in  the  provincial  cities  of  England  —  Liverpool,  Man- 
chester, Birmingham,  Bristol  —  has  been  left  substantially 
without  modification  since  the  Municipal  Reform  Act  of 
1853.  In  Cincinnati,  on  the  other  hand  —  to  pick  out 
an  American  city  at  random  —  ten  fundamental  organic 
changes  have  occurred  in  a  little  over  fifty  years.  Their 
nature  is  shown  in  the  following  table : 

Prior  to  1859  —  Police  under  control  of  mayor. 

1859 —  Board  of  four  commissioners  appointed  by  mayor, 

police  judge,  and  city  auditor. 
i860  —  Board   abolished  —  chief  of   police  appointed  by 

mayor. 

1873  —  Board  of  four  commissioners  elected  by  people. 

1874  —  Control  by  mayor  re-established. 

1877  —  Board  of  five  commissioners  appointed  by  gov- 
ernor. 
1880  —  Control  by  mayor  re-established. 

1885  —  Board  of  three  commissioners  appointed  by  local 

Board  of  Public  Works. 

1886  —  Board  of   four  commissioners  appointed  by  gov- 

ernor. 
1902  —  Board  of  four  commissioners  appointed  by  mayor 

and  council. 
1910  —  Director  of  Public  Safety  appointed  by  mayor. 

New  Orleans,  another  typical  city,  shows  the  following 
changes  in  the  frame  work  of  the  police  management: 

Prior  to  1868 —  Police  under  control  of  mayor. 
1868 — Board  of  five  commissioners  appointed  by  gov- 
ernor. 
1877  —  Board  of  four  commissioners  appointed  by  mayor. 

T12 


Development  of  American  Police  Control 

1888  —  Board  of  six  commissioners  elected  by  common 
council. 

1898  —  Board  of  seven  commissioners  elected  by  common 
council. 

1904 — Board  of  two  commissioners  appointed  by  mayor, 
serving  with  mayor. 

1912  —  Board  of  three  commissioners  consisting  of 
mayor,  commissioner  of  public  safety  and  civil- 
ian chosen  by  common  council. 

For  this  continuous  alteration  of  the  police  machinery, 
this  willingness  to  experiment  with  new-  forms  and  de- 
vices, one  factor,  as  we  have  already  suggested,  is  in  part 
responsible  —  the  apparently  ineradicable  belief  of  the 
American  people  that  in  the  right  mechanical  arrangement 
of  a  municipal  department,  if  only  it  can  be  discovered, 
lies  the  solution  of  the  ills  that  trouble  us.  If  scandal 
occurs  in  the  police  department,  if  the  force  becomes  the 
tool  of  the  politician  in  carrying  elections,  if  headquarters 
is  remiss  in  enforcing  laws  against  crime  and  vice,  the 
belief  gains  ground  that  something  is  wrong  with  the 
machinery  of  organization,  some  necessary  check  miss- 
ing, some  element  of  responsibility  inaccurately  placed. 
The  law  makers,  therefore,  under  public  pressure,  begin 
to  tinker  with  the  mechanism.  A  patch  is  added  here,  a 
cog-wheel  inserted  there.  If  the  force  has  been  under 
the  control  of  the  municipal  authorities  it  is  handed  over 
to  the  governor :  if  under  the  control  of  the  governor,  it  is 
given  to  the  municipal  authorities.  If  the  board  has  had 
large  powers,  they  are  taken  away  and  shared  with  the 
chief,  or  7'ice  z'o'sa  the  chief's  powers  are  conferred  ex- 
clusively   upon   the   board.     If    the   common   council    is 

113 


American  Police  Systems 

under  suspicion  its  authority  over  the  police  is  given  to 
the  board  of  public  works  or  to  the  judge  of  the  circuit 
court  or  to  any  other  body  or  officer  temporarily  possess- 
ing public  confidence.  The  reports  of  investigating  com- 
missioners the  country  over,  notably  the  Lexow  Commis- 
sion in  New  York  in  1895,  furnish  striking  examples  of 
this  kind  of  thinking.  Whatever  the  arrangement  of  the 
police  machinery,  it  is  wrong  and  must  be  changed,  and 
an  ideal  new  system  installed. 

This  belief  in  the  occult  qualities  of  mechanical  or- 
ganization leaves  strangely  out  of  consideration  the  char- 
acter and  ingenuity  of  men.  It  is  a  trite  remark,  but  it 
must  be  repeated,  that  no  form  or  arrangement  of  or- 
ganization is  proof  against  corruption  or  inefficiency  if 
corrupt  or  inefficient  men  are  allowed  to  operate  it.  The 
character  of  the  administrator  is  of  far  greater  conse- 
quence in  the  upbuilding  of  a  police  force  than  the  kind 
of  administrative  machinery  through  which  he  works. 
A  dishonest  or  incompetent  police  executive  will  ruin  the 
best  of  organizations  just  as  an  able  executive  will  make 
his  effectiveness  felt  in  spite  of  the  handicaps  of  poor 
mechanism.  State  control  of  police  generally  works  well 
in  Baltimore  and  wretchedly  in  Kansas  City;  at  this  mo- 
ment municipal  control  is  a  success  in  Los  Angeles  and 
a  disgrace  in  Chicago. 

It  must  not  be  forgotten,  of  course,  that  there  are  both 
good  and  bad  forms  of  organization.  As  we  have  al- 
ready seen  in  this  chapter,  responsibility  may  be  dissi- 
pated and  power  and  authority  lost  or  scattered  through 
ineffective  administrative  machinery.  It  is,  indeed, 
highly  important  that  leadership  be  established  and  re- 

114 


Development  of  American  Police  Control 

sponsibility  definitized,  and  constructive  thought  is  neces- 
sary to  build  a  machine  in  which  these  ends  are  accom- 
pHshed.  But  in  the  long  run  it  is  the  quahty  of  leader- 
ship that  counts.  No  system  of  control  is  guaranteed  to 
produce  adequate  results  without  relation  to  the  men  who 
operate  it.  No  automatic  type  of  organization  exists 
through  which  competency  and  effectiveness  are  assured. 
In  our  continued  search  for  such  a  self-regulating  ar- 
rangement we  have  been  chasing  a  will-o'-the-wisp. 

Another  factor,  perhaps  more  important,  is  responsible 
for  the  constant  alteration  in  our  police  machinery.  It  is 
summed  up  in  the  word  politics.  Enough  has  been  said 
of  it  in  this  chapter,  doubtless,  to  disclose  its  relation  to 
our  phenomenon  of  change.  There  is  scarcely  a  city  in 
the  United  States  in  which  the  police  department  has  not 
been  used  as  the  ladder  by  which  political  organizations 
have  crawled  to  power.  Obstacles  in  the  way  of  com- 
plete dominance  by  party  machines  have  been  overcome 
by  the  easy  processes  of  law,  and  police  departments  have 
been  revamped  and  reshaped,  not  in  the  interests  of  public 
service,  but  to  facilitate  the  operation  of  the  spoils  system 
or  strengthen  the  grip  of  some  political  machine.  Exam- 
ples of  this  are  legion ;  no  state  in  the  country  has  been 
free  of  it.  Of  the  nine  fundamental  changes  in  New 
York's  police  organization  in  75  years  scarcely  half  were 
made  in  good  faith.  The  struggle  for  party  dominance, 
the  desire  of  *'  jobs  "  for  the  faithful,  the  determination 
to  control  the  machinery  of  elections  were  the  contribut- 
ing motives  in  the  principal  alterations.  This  remark  is 
equally  true  of  Chicago,  San  Francisco,  New  Orleans, 
Cincinnati,  Indianapolis,  Oinaha,  and  a  dozen  others.     In 

115 


American  Police  Systems 

many  cities,  indeed,  no  attempt  has  been  made  to  conceal 
the  real  purpose  of  proposed  changes,  and  violent  alter- 
ations have  been  carried  through  on  the  open  and  ac- 
knowledged basis  of  party  interest.  Of  this  kind  not  a 
dozen  but  literally  scores  of  instances  could  be  cited,  gath- 
ered from  every  city  visited.  In  many  of  these  instances, 
the  cities  have  been  perhaps  more  sinned  against  than 
sinning;  they  have  been  victims  of  party  rivalry  in  the 
legislature,  pawns  in  the  clash  of  party  interests  for  the 
control  of  the  state.  Our  political  history  discloses  noth- 
ing more  sinister  than  the  continuous  legislative  interfer- 
ence in  municipal  arrangements  for  partisan  advantage. 
On  the  theory  that  what  the  state  has  given  the  state  can 
take  away,  the  administrative  machinery  of  city  govern- 
ment has  periodically  been  pulled  apart  and  rearranged,  as 
party  interests  have  dictated.  The  effect  of  this  treatment 
on  police  organization  has  been  peculiarly  disastrous. 
/The  department  has  been  stunted  and  dwarfed,  with  no 
I  opportunity  for  rational  development.  It  has  been  shaped 
J  as  a  tool  of  party  success  rather  than  an  instrument  of 
\    public  service.     Regarded  as  the  legitimate  spoils  of  vic- 

I    \   tory  at  the  polls,  it  has  been  prostituted  to  base  and  selfish 

^    I  purposes. 

^  One  looks  in  vain  for  parallel  conditions  in  the  cities  of 
England,  France,  or  Switzerland.  In  these  countries 
the  mechanism  of  the  police  department  is  the  prod- 
uct not  of  political  expediency  but  of  painstaking  care 
and  dehberation.  It  has  been  thoughtfully  put  together 
as  an  instrument  of  vast  public  usefulness.  The  best 
brains  obtainable  have  been  devoted  to  the  task.  When 
the   growing   needs   of   the   department   have   indicated 

ii6 


Development  of  American  Police  Control 

the  necessity  for  change  it  has  been  brought  about  care- 
fully and  conscientiously,  with  the  single  idea  of  pro- 
ducing a  better  machine.  As  a  result  we  find  such  ad- 
mirably articulated  organizations  as  Scotland  Yard  in 
London,  and  the  Praesidium  in  Vienna,  with  years  of 
efficient  police  service  to  their  credit.  No  tinkering  patch- 
work has  checked  their  development ;  no  sacrifice  to  politi- 
cal necessity  has  interfered  with  the  orderly  operation  of 
their  administrative  machinery.  Planned  deliberately  on 
a  basis  of  efficiency,  the  product  of  excellent  workman- 
ship and  unselfish  ideals  of  public  service,  they  have  run 
for  years  without  hitch  or  breakdown. 

The  contrast  between  the  old  world  and  the  new  in  re- 
spect to  the  evolution  of  local  government  leaves  little 
to  the  credit  of  America.  One  turns  from  the  history  of 
our  municipal  development  with  the  wish  that  most  of  its 
sordid  story  could  be  blotted  out. 


117 


CHAPTER  III 

THE    PRESENT    STATE    OF    POLICE    CONTROL 

State  versus  municipal  control. —  Successes  of  state  control. — 
Failures  of  state  control. —  State  control  in  relation  to  home  rule 
problems. —  Applicability  of  state  control. —  Board  control  versus 
single-headed  control. —  Weaknesses  of  board  control. —  Board  ad- 
ministration a  part  time  task. —  Lack  of  unity  in  board  administra- 
tion.—  Conflict  of  authority  in  board  administration. —  Politics  in 
board  administration. —  Elective  boards. —  Bi-partisan  boards. —  The 
development  of  single  headed  control. 

In  the  foregoing  chapter  we  have  followed  the  develop- 
ment of  police  organization  in  America  from  the  simple 
night  watch  of  early  days  to  the  elaborated  forms  of  ad- 
ministration which  were  evolved  during  the  latter  half 
of  the  nineteenth  century.  We  have  seen  the  rise  of  that 
anomalous  instrument  of  supervision,  the  executive 
board,  with  its  many  and  often  capricious  modifications, 
superseded  in  part  within  recent  years  by  the  responsible 
leadership  of  single-headed  management.  We  have  ob- 
served the  wide  popularity  of  direct  state  control  of  local 
forces  and  its  subsequent  abandonment,  except  in  a  few 
instances,  in  favor  of  home  rule.  The  line  of  progress 
has  led  toward  concentrated  responsibility  under  local 
rather  than  state  supervision. 

This  development,  however,  has  been  by  no  means  uni- 
form or  consistent.  Rather,  the  cities  have  straggled 
along  unsymmetrically  and  without  plan,  following  first 

ii8 


The  Present  State  of  Police  Control 

one  path  and  then  another,  undiscou raged  in  attempting 
new  courses  by  the  previous  faiUires  of  other  munici- 
pahties.  While,  therefore,  it  is  possible  to  perceive  a 
general  trend  in  the  evolution  of  police  control,  one  can- 
not classify  the  development  according  to  sharply  defined 
periods.  The  progress  has  been  too  irregular  and  dis- 
torted for  orderly  cross  section  analysis.  Today  police 
organizations  are  to  be  found  in  every  stage  of  growth. 
Archaic  and  modern  forms  exist  side  by  side  in  the  same 
state  and  reversions  to  older  types  are  often  encountered. 
The  historical  survey  which  we  have  been  making  has 
shown  us  something  of  the  relation  and  development  of 
these  forms  of  control.  Our  present  task  is  to  examine 
their  practical  working  and  operation  in  the  cities  in  which 
they  are  now  in  effect. 

I.       STATE   VERSUS    MUNICIPAL    CONTROL 

Of  the  ten  largest  cities  in  the  United  States,  the  police 
departments  of  three —  Boston,  Baltimore,  and  St.  Louis 
—  are  under  direct  state  control  and  their  heads  are  ap- 
pointed by  the  state  governors.  Kansas  City  and  St. 
Joseph  in  ^Missouri,  Fall  River  in  Massachusetts,  Lewis- 
ton  in  Maine, ^  and  a  few  cities  and  towns  in  New  Hamp- 
shire -  and  Rhode  Island  ^  are  under  similar  control.  In 
Montgomery,  Ala.,  the  police  department  is  administered 
by  a  board  of  public  safety  elected  by  the  State  Senate 
of  Alabama.'*     In  none  of  the  larger  of  these  cities  does 

1  Private  and  Special  Laws  of  Me.,  1917,  Chap.  z^j. 
-  Berlin,    Dover,    Exeter,    Laconia,    Manchester,    Na.shiia,    Ports- 
mouth and  Soniersworth.     Laws  of  N.  H.,  191.3,  Chap.  148. 
^Cumberland  ( .-Kcts  and  Resolves  of  R.  L,  1913,  Chap.  993). 
■*  General  Laws  of  Ala.,  1915,  Act  No.  29,  sec.  2"]. 

119 


American  Police  Systems 

the  arrangement  represent  an  experiment  recently  under- 
taken. It  has  been  in  effect  in  BaUimore,  St.  Louis  and 
Kansas  City  since  the  outbreak  of  the  Civil  War;  in  Bos- 
ton since  1885. 

The  theoretical  argument  for  state  control  has  been 
many  times  repeated.  The  police  are  engaged  primarily 
in  the  enforcement  of  laws  enacted  by  the  legislature  and 
intended  to  operate  uniformly  throughout  the  state.  In 
the  performance  of  this  function,  therefore,  they  are 
agents  not  of  the  municipality  which  hires  them  but  of 
the  state  whose  laws  they  are  sworn  to  execute.  This 
point  has  been  made  repeatedly  by  our  courts.  "  Police 
officers  can  in  no  sense  be  regarded  as  agents  or  servants 
of  the  city,"  said  the  Supreme  Court  of  Massachusetts. 
"  Their  duties  are  of  a  public  nature.  Their  appointment 
is  devolved  on  cities  and  towns  by  the  legislature  as  a 
convenient  mode  of  exercising  a  function  of  govern- 
ment." ^  In  other  words,  the  interest  of  the  state  in 
efficient  police  administration  is  vital  and  permanent  and 
its  right  to  see  that  its  mandates  are  enforced  is  of  fun- 
damental importance.^ 

Back  of  this  theoretical  justification  of  state  control 
lies  the  consideration  of  necessity.  Officers  under  local 
supervision  have  been  easily  reached  by  local  influence. 
State  control  is  more  detached  and  inaccessible  and  pres- 

1  BuUrick  v.  The  City  of  Lowell,  i  Allen  (Mass.)  172.  See  also 
Culver  V.  Streator,  130  Illinois,  238,  and  Prather  v.  Lexington,  13 
B.  Monroe,  559.  These  cases  are  discussed  by  Dr.  Goodnow  in  his 
Municipal  Home  Rule,  New  York,  1906. 

2  The  argument  is  admirably  expressed  in  The  Control  of  Police, 
by  A.  R.  Hatton,  printed  in  Western  Reserve  University  Bulletin, 
Vol.  Xin,  No.  3.  See  also  Principles  and  Methods  of  Municipal 
Administration  by  William  Bennett  Munro,  New  York,  1916,  pp. 
268-273. 

120 


The  Present  State  of  Police  Control 

sure  cannot  be  so  immediately  or  directly  applied.  The 
very  propinquity  of  the  law-enforcing  machinery  to  the 
people  affected  by  its  operation  has  often  been  a  source 
of  weakness.  Moreover,  city  populations  have  in  many 
cases  been  apathetic  and  contented,  and  municipal  ad- 
ministrations have  consequently  remained  in  unwise  and 
dishonest  hands.  Under  such  circumstances,  anything 
approaching  effective  police  arrangements  has  been  im- 
possible. Mismanagement  and  corruption  have  left  life 
and  property  inadequately  protected.  The  excise  laws 
to  which  greater  importance  has  generally  been  attached 
by  country  than  by  city  legislative  representatives  have 
been  dishonestly  enforced  or  unenforced  altogether  and 
other  sumptuary  statutes  have  been  disregarded.  The 
state,  therefore,  has  been  obliged  to  supersede  its  derelict 
agents  and  through  direct  control  to  insure  the  execution 
of  its  will.  Such,  at  least,  is  the  argument  by  which 
those  in  favor  of  state  control  have  supported  their 
claims. 

Successes  of  State  Control. 

That  the  application  of  this  principle  has  in  a  number 
of  instances  proved  successful  —  at  least  that  it  has 
brought  about  more  satisfactory  police  conditions  —  can- 
not be  disputed.  Of  this  point  Boston  furnishes  a  strik- 
ing example.  The  Boston  force  has  recently  been  dis- 
credited by  the  unfortunate  strike  which  terminated  the 
careers  of  most  of  its  members.  It  must  not  be  forgot- 
ten, however,  that  for  many  years  Boston  maintained  a 
police  department,  under  state  control,  which  in  point  of 
personnel  and  the  general  satisfaction  which  its  operation 

121 


American  Police  Systems 

afforded  stood  well  in  the  lead  of  police  organizations 
throughout  the  country.  During  thirty  years  it  was  prac- 
tically alone  among  American  police  departments  in  its 
freedom  from  scandal.  Particularly  after  the  creation  of 
single-headed  management  in  1906,  the  administration  of 
the  police  force  was  conducted  with  a  disregard  for  po- 
litical considerations  rarely  encountered  in  American 
cities.  "  In  my  ten  years  of  service  (as  commissioner) 
under  five  governors  representing  the  two  leading  politi- 
cal parties,"  said  the  police  commissioner  in  1916,  "  I 
have  never  received  from  any  of  them  a  request  or  an  in- 
timation designed  to  influence  my  official  action,  through 
favor  towards  them  or  their  friends,  on  any  subject  what- 
ever. On  the  contrary,  they  have  uniformly  assured  me 
of  their  desire  that  I  should  maintain  the  independence 
of  judgment  and  conduct  which  was  the  basic  condition 
of  my  acceptance  of  office."  ^ 

That  such  conditions  could  have  been  achieved  under 
municipal  control  in  Boston  is  difficult  to  believe.  The 
city  administration  has  for  years  been  dominated  by  par- 
tisan politics  and  marked  by  many  of  the  unhappy  fea- 
tures too  often  typical  of  our  municipal  government. 
Under  such  control  the  police  department  could  not  have 
maintained  the  public  confidence  which  it  long  enjoyed. 

The  condition  of  the  Boston  police  force  in  this  en- 
vironment is  explicable  simply  on  the  basis  of  the  average 
superior  quality  of  the  state  government.  Whether  due 
to  a  large  foreign  population,  or  some  condition  of  civic 

1  Boston  Police  Department,  General  Order  No.  1,063,  June  5,  1916. 
Issued  by  Stephen  O'Meara  upon  the  completion  of  ten  years  of 
continual  service  as  police  commissioner. 

12^ 


The  Present  State  of  Police  Control 

inertia,  or  factors  peculiarly  local  —  whatever  the  cause 
may  he  —  the  government  elected  hy  the  city  of  Boston 
has  generally  been  below  the  level  of  the  government 
elected  by  the  state  of  Massachusetts.  For  many  years 
men  of  larger  capacity  have  been  secured  for  the  adminis- 
tration of  the  state  than  of  the  city.  As  a  result,  better 
appointments  have  been  made  to  the  police  commission- 
ership  and  political  interference  is  less  pronounced  than 
could  have  been  expected  under  local  supervision.  I'he 
matter  centers  entirely  around  the  character  of  the  ap- 
pointing officers,  and  state  control  is  acquiesced  in,  even 
with  its  somewhat  invidious  implication,  because  in  the 
long  run  the  chances  seem  better  of  electing  good  gover- 
nors of  Massachusetts  than  of  electing  good  mayors  in 
Boston. 

The  case  is  even  more  strikingly  illustrated  in  connec- 
tion with  the  police  department  of  Fall  River,  in  the 
same  state,  which  has  been  under  state  control  since  1894. 
Only  thirteen  per  cent  of  the  population  of  this  city  of 
iJO,ooo  are  native  bom  of  native  parentage;  the  bal- 
ance, attracted  by  the  textile  industry  to  which  the  city 
owes  its  rapid  growth,  is  made  up  of  French  Canadians, 
Irish,  Poles  and  Portuguese.  Prior  to  1894,  under  the 
control  of  the  mayor  and  an  aldermanic  committee,  the 
police  department  was  corrupt  and  disorganized.  Poli- 
tics ran  riot.  Gambling  dens  and  disorderly  houses  were 
shielded,  the  liquor  laws  were  habitually  violated,  and  the 
city  was  plagued  with  a  disproportionate  amount  of 
crime.  With  a  police  IxDard  of  able  men  appointed  by  the 
governor,  however,  under  the  Act  of  iS'94,  the  situation 
was  rapidly  changed  and  for  over  twenty  years  the  de- 

123 


American  Police  Systems 

partment  has  been  effectively  administered.  In  spite  of 
a  forty  per  cent  increase  in  population,  largely  foreign 
born,  crime  has  been  reduced  below  the  figures  of  1894;  ^ 
disorderly  houses  have  been  eliminated ;  and  the  police 
force  is  held  in  public  confidence  to  a  degree  rarely  en- 
countered. "  I  have  had  many  pastorates  in  many 
cities,"  said  a  clergyman  to  the  w^riter,  "  and  I  have  never 
seen  such  a  clean  and  orderly  city  as  Fall  River."  This 
testimony  was  widely  supported. 

Baltimore  is  another  city  in  which  good  results  are  ob- 
tained from  a  state-controlled  police  force.  Since  1900, 
when  the  right  to  appoint  police  commissioners  was  taken 
from  the  legislature,  where  it  had  lodged  for  forty  years, 
and  given  to  the  governor,  the  department  has  been  in 
the  hands  of  men  of  excellent  repute.  Prominent  repre- 
sentatives of  the  bar  and  leading  business  men  have  held 
places  on  the  board,  and  the  administration  of  the  force 
has  been  characterized  by  an  absence  of  political  ma- 
noeuvring and  intrigue.  Under  such  control  the  depart- 
ment has  made  marked  progress  and  has  gained  for  itself 
the  respect  and  support  of  the  citizens  of  Baltimore. 

In  this  case,  as  in  the  other  cases  which  we  have  cited, 
the  merit  of  state  control  depends  upon  the  probability  of 
securing  better  appointments  from  the  governor  than  can 
be  secured  from  local  officers.  Baltimore  has  enjoyed 
the  advantage  of  having  her  affairs  administered  by  high- 
minded,  public  spirited  men  because  the  governors  mak- 
ing these  appointments  have  acted  upon  their  obligation 
to  choose  the  best  men  available  for  so  important  a  task. 

1  See  the  annual  reports  of  the  police  department  for  the  years 
1894,  1895  and  1915. 

124 


The  Present  State  of  Police  Control 

No  guarantee  exists,  however,  that  future  governors  will 
see  the  obligation  with  equal  clarity.  Nothing  about  tHe 
present  arrangement  warrants  the  forecast  that  the  police 
department  of  Baltimore  will  always  be  free  from  parti- 
san politics.  A  governor  could  alter  the  situation  any 
time  he  chose.  A  board  composed  of  unfit  men,  ap- 
pointed perhaps  for  reasons  of  political  expediency,  would 
shortly  plunge  the  department  into  the  old  conditions 
when  political  expediency  was  its  ruling  principle.  Simi- 
larly in  Fall  River  a  designation  by  the  governor  of  com- 
missioners unsuited  for  their  tasks  might  undermine  in 
a  week  the  public  confidence  which  it  has  taken  years  to 
establish.  At  best,  the  situation  is  one  of  chance,  and 
the  practical  question  which  confronts  these  cities  and 
others  contemplating  a  similar  form  of  control  is  whether 
appointments  by  state  ofiicers  are  of  higher  character  and 
less  attended  by  political  considerations  than  appoint- 
ments by  local  ofiicers. 

Failures  of  State  Control. 

That  this  question  is  one  to  which  a  ready  answer  can- 
not be  given  for  all  cities  or  even  for  a  single  city,  is 
shown  by  the  situation  in  St.  Louis,  where,  as  we  have 
noted,  state  control  has  long  been  in  operation.  The  po- 
lice administration  has  been  both  good  and  bad,  but  re- 
cently more  good  than  bad.  The  appointments  to  the 
police  board  by  Governors  Folk  and  Hadley  ten  years 
ago  were  particularly  creditable,  and  hard,  conscientious 
work  was  done  to  make  the  organization  effective.  Prior 
to  1905.  however,  under  exactly  the  same  method  of  con- 
trol, a  far  different  situation  existed.     The  Democratic 

125 


American  Police  Systems 

boss  of  the  city  was  president  of  the  board.  Two  of  his 
fellow  commissioners  were  brewers.  The  city  was  wide 
open  and  corruption  and  politics  ruled  the  department. 
Citizens  of  outlying  counties  without  qualification  or 
merit  were  placed  on  the  force  through  the  influence  of 
the  governor.  The  police  were  the  tools  by  which  vic- 
tory was  enforced  at  the  polls.  In  the  investigation  by 
the  prosecuting  attorney  which  marked  the  end  of  the 
notorious  "  Hawes  board,"  four  police  ofiicers  committed 
suicide  rather  than  face  the  results  of  their  acts.^  In 
other  words,  ten  to  fifteen  years  ago  state  control  in  St. 
Louis  was  a  complete  failure.  Obviously,  the  explana- 
tion must  lie  in  the  changing  character  of  the  state  govern- 
ment. Police  administration  under  state  control  encoun- 
ters the  same  pitfalls  as  under  municipal  control.  The 
ideals  and  wisdom  of  the  governor  or  mayor  determine 
the  level  of  the  administration. 

Another  example  may  illuminate  the  point.  Probably 
no  large  police  department  in  the  country  is  so  permeated 
with  politics,  and  consequently  so  demoralized,  as  the  de- 
partment in  Kansas  City,  Missouri,  where  state  control 
has  been  in  effect  for  over  fifty  years.  Always  an  ad- 
junct to  the  political  party  in  power,  the  police  boards 
appointed  for  this  city  by  the  various  governors  have 
been  strictly  partisan  in  character  —  sometimes  fairly 
good,  never  first  class,  often  downright  bad.  The  de- 
partment has  for  years  been  the  center  of  the  perennial 
feud  existing  between  the  two  factions  of  the  local  Demo- 
cratic party.     The  chief,  with  the  backing  of  the  gover- 

1  See  speech  of  ex-Governor  Joseph  W.  Folk  before  the  City  Club 
of  St.  Louis,  printed  in  the  St.  Louis  Star,  December  19,  1912. 

126 


The  Present  State  of  Police  Control 

nor,  is  often  the  creature  of  one  faction,  while  the  board 
with  its  constantly  shifting  personnel  is  often  representa- 
tive of  the  other.  The  various  governors,  out  of  touch 
and  out  of  sympathy  with  local  conditions,  have  assumed 
no  positive  leadership,  with  the  result  that  the  rank  and 
file  of  the  force  have  aligned  themselves  with  one  of  the 
two  political  "  bosses  "  whose  backing  seemed  to  promise 
the  greater  security.  Under  such  conditions  demoraliza- 
tion has  been  wide-spread. 

Similarly  in  St.  Joseph,  Missouri,  a  city  of  77,000 
population,  state  control  of  the  police  force  has  been  at- 
tended with  unhappy  results.  At  the  time  of  my  visit, 
the  board  appointed  by  the  governor  consisted  of  a  den- 
tist, a  baker  and  a  lawyer,  and  the  department  was  the 
creature  of  the  dominant  political  faction.  With  no  civil 
service  system  the  appointments  to  the  force  were  notori- 
ous, and  suspicions  existed  of  more  serious  conditions. 
Two  of  the  commissioners  were  under  indictment  by  a 
grand  jury  for  oppression  and  malfeasance  in  office;^ 
and  the  charge  was  openly  made  that  licenses  were  with- 
held from  saloons  whose  proprietors  criticised  the  gover- 
nor or  the  political  party  he  represented,  and  that  brew- 
eries were  forbidden  to  advertise  in  a  newspaper  antago- 
nistic to  the  department,  under  penalty  of  drastic  action 
against  the  saloons  which  they  controlled. 

State  control  as  a  supervisory  method  possesses  no  in- 
herent superiority.  Without  relation  to  the  quality  of  the 
state  government  it  guarantees  nothing  in  the  way  of 
effectiveness.     As  a  bare  arrangement  of  organization  it 

1  These  indictments  were  subsequently  quashed,  but  the  commis- 
sioners in  question  were  later  removed  from  office. 

127 


American  Police  Systems 

contains  no  greater  promise  of  integrity  than  municipal 
control.  The  efficiency  or  inefficiency  of  a  police  force 
depends  largely  —  one  might  almost  say  exclusively  — 
upon  the  character  and  ability  of  the  men  who  run  it,  and 
governors,  like  mayors,  can  make  bad  appointments.  If 
this  were  the  only  angle  from  which  the  subject  could  be 
approached,  therefore,  the  problem  would  involve,  as  I 
have  pointed  out,  merely  the  determination  in  a  given 
state  of  the  source  from  which  better  appointments  could 
in  the  long  run  be  reasonably  expected. 

State  Control  in  Relation  to  Home  Rule  Problems. 

The  problem,  however,  is  not  so  easily  disposed  of. 
Indeed,  it  is  vastly  complicated  by  the  troublesome  ques- 
tions involved  in  the  principle  of  local  self  government. 
The  inevitable  friction  and  discord  arising  from  a  situ- 
ation in  which  the  public  functions  of  a  community  are 
partly  under  state  and  partly  under  local  control ;  the  con- 
ception of  absentee  management  and  responsibility  im- 
plied in  a  system  of  state  supervision;  the  requisition  by 
state  authorities  of  funds  raised  by  municipal  taxation 
without  vote  or  check  on  the  part  of  local  officers;  the 
invidious  inference  attaching  to  state-controlled  police 
that  in  respect  to  this  one  function  at  least  the  people  of 
a  locality  are  unfit  to  govern  themselves  —  considerations 
of  this  kind,  often  more  intangible  than  practical,  must 
be  carefully  weighed  even  against  the  efficient  results 
which  state  management  may  in  some  instances  make 
possible. 

Many  of  these  considerations,  which  militate  against 
the  public  satisfaction  that  state  control  of  police  is  in 

128 


The  Present  State  of  Police  Control 

some  quarters  expected  to  afford,  are  bound  up  in  the 
question  of  finance.  In  establishing  metropoHtan  police 
systems  the  legislatures  have  generally  found  it  necessary 
to  make  the  requisitions  of  the  state  appointed  police 
executives  mandatory  upon  the  local  councils.  Other- 
wise by  refusing  to  grant  funds  or  by  granting  them^n 
insufficient  amounts  the  communities  might  nullify  the 
purpose  and  operation  of  the  acts.  Thus  in  St.  Louis  the 
law  provides  that  the  board  of  police  commissioners  ap- 
pointed by  the  governor  shall  annually  prepare  and  certify 
to  the  municipal  assembly  an  estimate  of  monies  neces- 
sary for  the  ensuing  year  and  the  latter  body  is  "  hereby 
required  to  set  apart  and  appropriate  the  amount  so  cer- 
tified, payable  out  of  the  revenue  of  said  city."  ^  Any 
member  of  the  municipal  assembly  resisting  the  enforce- 
ment of  this  provision  is  liable  to  a  penalty  of  $i,ooo, 
and  may  further  be  discjualified  "  forever  "  from  "  hold- 
ing or  exercising  any  office  or  employment  under  the 
mayor  or  municipal  assembly."  -  Similarly,  in  Balti- 
more the  board  of  police  commissioners  appointed  by  the 
governor  makes  an  estimate  of  expense  for  the  current 
fiscal  year  and  certifies  it  to  the  mayor  and  city  council, 
"  who  are  required  without  delay  specifically  to  assess  and 
levy  such  amount  as  shall  be  sufficient  to  raise  the  same, 
clear  of  all  expenses  and  discounts,  upon  all  the  assess- 
able property  of  the  City  of  Baltimore."  ^     To  cover  in- 

^  Laws  of  Mo.,  1899,  p.  57,  Sec.  13. 

2  Ibid.,  Sec.  14.  This  provision  was  inserted  in  the  law  to  pre- 
vent the  practice  of  members  of  the  municipal  asseml)ly  of  holding 
up  the  police  appropriation  while  they  bargained  with  the  commis- 
sioners for  "jobs"  for  their  henchmen. 

3  Laws  of  Md.,  1898,  Chap.  123,  Sec.  747. 

129 


American  Police  Systems 

sufficient  estimates  the  police  board  is  empowered  to  issue 
certificates  of  indebtedness  not  to  exceed  $50,000  in  any 
one  year,  the  amounts  of  which  are  added  to  the  munici- 
pal tax  levy  for  the  year  next  ensuing.^  In  Boston, 
where  the  police  commissioner  is  also  appointed  by  the 
governor,  the  law  provides  that  all  the  expenses  of  the 
department  shall  be  paid  by  the  city  "  upon  the  requisition 
of  said  police  commissioner."  -  In  Kansas  City  under 
similar  arrangements  the  common  council  is  obliged  to 
set  aside,  as  its  initial  appropriation,  the  amount  of  money 
asked  for  by  the  police  board.  Additional  expenditures 
for  extra  police  work,  unforeseen  at  the  time  of  the  first 
estimate,  must  be  granted  by  the  municipal  authorities  as 
requested  by  the  board. ^ 

The  effect  of  these  acts,  to  be  sure,  is  often  tempered 
by  further  provisions  fixing  the  approximate  numbers  to 
be  employed  in  each  rank  of  the  police  force,  so  that  a 
state-appointed  police  executive  can  not  arbitrarily  add  to 
the  municipal  budget  by  greatly  extending  his  department. 
In  Boston,  indeed,  the  commissioner  may  not  employ  ad- 
ditional patrolmen,  "  except  as  authorized  by  the  mayor," 
nor  may  the  salaries  of  the  force  be  increased  except  by 
the  concurrent  action  of  the  mayor  and  commissioner.^ 
There  still  remains,  however,  a  large  margin  of  expense, 
over  and  above  the  mere  salary  budget,  the  necessity  for 
which  is  not  debatable  by  local  fiscal  officers,  but  rests 
entirely  in  the  discretion  of  men  in  no  way  responsible 
to  the  municipal  government. 

1  Laws  of  Md.,  1898,  Chap.  123,  Sec.  747. 

2  Acts  of  Mass.,  1906,  Chap.  291,  Sec.  8. 
'Laws  of  Mo.,  p.  68,  Sees.  15-16. 

4  Acts  of  Mass.,  1906,  Chap.  291,  Sec.  13. 

130 


The  Present  State  of  Police  Control 

Such  a  situation  inevitably  breeds  resentment  and  even 
bitterness.  Other  city  departments  must  take  their 
chances  in  their  requests  for  funds;  their  appeals  must  be 
weighed  with  other  appeals  and  the  issue  settled  on  the 
basis  of  comparative  urgency.  The  police  estimates 
alone  go  unchallenged.  As  a  result,  health,  charity,  pub- 
lic works  and  a  score  of  other  municipal  functions  arc 
subordinated  to  the  unquestioned  and  unanalyzed  needs 
of  the  police.  In  St.  Louis  considerable  feeling  on  this 
point  has  frequently  developed.  In  1899  the  common 
council  refused  to  pay  the  claims  of  the  police  board  in- 
volving the  salaries  of  extra  policemen  until  forced  by  a 
decision  of  the  Supreme  Court.^  In  Boston,  in  1914,  the 
police  commissioner  successfully  defied  the  mayor  and  the 
Finance  Commission  in  a  contest  over  increased  rates  of 
pay  for  officers  of  rank.  The  increases  in  question  had 
been  made  on  the  basis  of  a  small  unappropriated  bal- 
ance in  the  remaining  days  of  the  former  city  administra- 
tion, and  the  new  mayor's  appeal  to  the  commissioner  to 
consent  to  a  restoration  of  the  former  rates  of  pay  so  as 
not  to  impair  the  efficiency  of  other  branches  of  the  mu- 
nicipal service  was  disregarded  on  the  ground  that  such  a 
step  would  work  injury  to  the  morale  of  his  department." 
Whatever  the  merit  of  the  commissioner's  position,  it 
served  not  only  to  emphasize  the  lack  of  unity  in  the  gov- 
ernmeqtal  functions  of  Boston  but  to  throw  into  relief  the 
rankling  implication  of  the  law  that  in  respect  to  the  man- 

1  153  Mo.  23:  People  ex  rcl.  Hawcs  v.  Mason.  The  entire  police 
force  went  without  pay  for  three  months  while  the  case  was  in  the 
courts. 

-  The  reports  dealing  with  this  case  are  printed  in  the  annual  re- 
port of  the  Boston  police  department  for  1914. 


American  Police  Systems 

agement  of  the  police  force  the  citizens  of  Boston  must 
be  protected  against  themselves.  Fuel  such  as  this  keeps 
home  rule  agitation  continually  smoldering. 

The  financial  detachment  of  state-controlled  police 
forces  shows  in  their  expenditures.  In  the  cities  in  which 
such  control  exists,  a  larger  proportion  of  the  municipal 
budget  is  given  to  the  police  departments  than  in  cities  of 
the  same  class  in  which  the  police  are  under  local  man- 
agement. This  fact  is  shown  by  a  comparison  of  the 
ratio  of  police  cost  to  total  municipal  cost,  in  St.  Louis 
and  in  Philadelphia,  the  city  next  larger  in  size.  In  the 
former  city  in  19 15,  14.8%  of  the  annual  municipal  ap- 
propriation, exclusive  of  public  service  enterprises,  went 
for  police  purposes ;  in  the  latter,  with  a  population  nearly 
a  million  greater  and  hence  with  police  functions  rela- 
tively more  complex  and  expensive,  13.8%  of  the  budget 
was  devoted  to  the  police  during  the  same  period.^  Simi- 
lar comparisons  for  the  years  191  o,  1911  and  19 12  bear 
out  the  same  divergence.^  Equal  results  are  obtained  by 
comparing  ratios  of  cost  in  Boston  and  Baltimore  on  the 
one  hand,  representing  state-controlled  police  forces,  with 
Cleveland  and  Pittsburgh  on  the  other,  representing  mu- 
nicipally controlled  police  forces.  The  latter  cities  are 
chosen  because  in  population  they  most  closely  approxi- 
mate the  former.  The  following  table  embodies  the 
fiscal  year  of  191 5  : 

1  Figures  obtained  from  the  U.  S.  Census  publication,  "  Financial 
statistics  of  cities  having  a  population  of  over  30,000 —  1915."  New 
York  and  Chicago,  because  of  their  vast  size,  cannot  fairly  be  com- 
pared with  St.  Louis.  The  same  remark  holds  true  of  the  smaller 
cities.  It  is  obvious  that  the  larger  the  city  the  greater  must  be  the 
relative  cost  for  police  purposes. 

2  Figures  for  1913  and  1914  are  not  obtainable. 

13-2 


The  Present  State  of  Police  Control 


Ratio 

of  police  cost  to 

City 

Population 

total 

viunicipal  cost  ^ 

State        C  Boston     .  .  . 
Police      j^  Baltimore    . 

7ZA>7A7 

11.3% 

579.590 

13- 

Municipal  |  Cleveland    . 
Police     1  Pittsburgh  . 

639,431 

9.2 

564,878 

7.8 

The  comparatively  greater  expense  of  state-controlled 
police  forces  is  shown  by  an  examination  of  the  costs  per 
capita  of  population,  as  follows  :  - 

Cost  per  capita 
City  of  population 


State 
Police 


Municipal 
Police 


St.  Louis   2.90 

Boston    3.47 

Baltimore     2.20 

Philadelphia    2.68 

Cleveland 1.59 

Pittsburgh    1.78 


If  figures  were  lacking,  the  superior  material  equip- 
ment of  the  police  departments  of  St.  Louis  and  Balti- 
more would  substantiate  the  point  that  more  money  is 
spent  by  a  city  for  police  under  state  control  than  under 
municipal  control.  In  the  former  city  particularly,  the 
physical  property  of  the  department  is  indicative  of  un- 
cramped  financial  conditions.  The  station  houses  are 
models  of  their  kind,  splendidly  built  and  equipped.  The 
headquarters  building  is  perhaps  the  most  complete  in 
America ;  and   throughout  there  is  every  evidence  that 

^  Figures  obtained  from  the  U.  S.  Census  publication,  "  Financial 
statistics  of  cities  having  a  population  of  over  30,000 —  1915." 
-  Ibid. 


American  Police  Systems 

the  department  has  not  been  obhged  to  compete  with 
other  departments  in  a  scramble  for  funds.  What  the 
poHce  want  they  are  legally  bound  to  obtain.  "  For  four 
years,"  said  a  former  member  of  the  municipal  council 
of  St.  Louis,  "  I  was  obliged  by  law  to  vote  unquestion- 
ingly  the  requisitions  of  the  police  board.  We  had  to 
cut  down  on  health,  on  parks,  and  on  public  improve- 
ments. For  the  sake  of  economy  we  slashed  a  hundred 
public  needs  that  should  never  have  been  slashed.  But 
our  economy  measures  could  not  touch  the  police  depart- 
ment." ^ 

That  under  such  circumstances  home  rule  sentiment 
smolders  constantly  beneath  the  surface  is  scarcely  to  be 
wondered  at.  Of  the  four  large  cities  with  state-con- 
trolled police,  Boston  is  perhaps  most  committed  to  the 
plan.  Even  the  recent  police  strike  apparently  did  not 
shake  her  faith  in  this  method  of  management,  which  has 
become  too  firmly  established  in  public  estimation  to  be 
easily  overthrown.  "  It 's  a  habit,"  said  a  prominent  citi- 
zen of  Boston.  "  We  are  used  to  it  and  it  ivorks."  The 
same  opinion  was  encountered  in  Baltimore.  In  St. 
Louis  and  Kansas  City,  on  the  other  hand,  dissatisfaction 

1  Personally  communicated.  That  larger  expenditure  inevitably 
follows  state-controlled  police  departments  is  shown  in  the  experi- 
ence of  German  cities.  When  the  burgomasters  and  local  authorities 
are  in  control,  economy  is  the  guiding  rule  because  of  the  immediate 
presence  of  the  taxpayers.  Economy  is  not,  however,  so  pressing 
a  matter  with  the  officials  of  a  state-controlled  force,  for  the  tax- 
payers are  far  removed  from  the  scene  of  action  and  the  incentive 
is  not  so  direct  or  compelling.  In  Saxony,  for  example,  Dresden 
annually  spends  20%  more  for  its  state  police  force  than  Leipzig 
does  for  its  municipal  force,  although  the  population  of  Leipzig  is 
larger  by  40,000.  For  further  discussion  see  European  Police  Sys- 
tems, pp.  72-73  ff. 


The  Present  State  of  Police  Control 

is  continually  expressed,  and  the  feeling  for  home  rule 
will  not  down.  In  St.  Louis,  indeed,  in  1914,  a  home 
rule  police  bill,  passed  by  the  legislature  and  submitted  to 
the  entire  state  on  referendum,  received  in  the  city  a  ma- 
jority of  7,000  votes,  although  in  the  remainder  of  the 
state  the  measure  was  buried  under  an  avalanche  of 
175,000.  The  Democratic  rural  districts  of  Missouri  are 
suspicious  of  any  bill  conferring  larger  powers  on  the 
Republican  cities.  The  situation  is  complicated,  too,  by 
the  fact  that  the  home  rule  movement,  at  least  in  St. 
Louis,  has  not  been  discussed  from  the  point  of  view  of 
more  effective  enforcement  of  law  and  the  selection  of 
better  police  officials.  It  has  been  largely  a  protest,  more 
or  less  sentimentally  founded,  against  rural  domination. 
Oftentimes,  too  —  as  in  the  case  of  the  1914  measure  — 
home  rule  has  been  merely  a  partisan  movement,  deco- 
rated to  attract  the  unwary,  and  engineered  by  special 
interests.  "  Last  summer  when  these  measures  were  first 
proposed."  said  ex-Governor  Folk  in  an  address  before 
the  City  Club  of  St.  Louis  on  the  home  rule  police  bills, 
"  it  was  freely  stated  in  the  public  press  that  the  object 
was  to  make  St.  Louis  a  wide-open  city.  Without  im- 
puting these  motives  to  those  who  now  advocate  these 
measures,  I  believe  it  is  clear  that  they  were  born  of  that 
desire."  ^  In  the  struggle  which  culminated  in  the  final 
overthrow  of  the  proposition  at  the  polls,  St.  Louis  was 
treated  to  the  spectacle  of  the  better  civic  elements  of  the 
city  fighting  the  home  rule  which  theoretically  at  least  they 
approved,  while  the  brewery  interests  were  listed  as  its 

^  Quoted  in  the  St.  Louis  Star,  Dec.  19,  1912. 


American  Police  Systems 

chief   champions.     "  Real   home   rule   and   not   brewery 
rule  —  this  is  the  issue,"  said  ex-Governor  Folk.^ 

The  Applicability  of  State  Control. 

In  the  last  analysis  the  choice  between  state  and  mu- 
nicipal control  as  a  method  of  police  administration  can 
be  made  only  in  the  light  of  local  conditions.  Not  only 
must  the  comparative  average  quality  of  the  state  and  the 
municipal  government  be  considered,  but  the  genuineness 
and  extent  of  the  demand  for  home  rule  —  however 
vaguely  conceived  —  must  enter  into  the  solution  as  an 
indispensable  element.  Popular  content  or  discontent  is, 
in  a  democracy,  of  all  forms  of  government,  a  factor  of 
vital  significance.  A  city  accustomed  to  its  own  manage- 
ment in  matters  relating  to  its  own  well-being  cannot 
readily  be  saddled  with  a  form  of  exterior  control. 
Moreover,  the  feeling  of  irresponsibility  for  police  con- 
ditions, often  bred  in  the  local  citizenship  as  a  result  of 
such  absentee  management,  is  a  hurt  not  ordinarily  com- 
pensated by  any  possible  advantage  in  the  greater  effi- 
ciency of  the  force.  Indeed,  one  might  go  so  far  as  to 
say  that  only  serious  conditions  of  demoralization,  denot- 
ing not  only  present  but  future  inability  effectively  to 
manage  its  police  department,  would  initially  justify  a 
state  in  superseding  the  police  arrangements  of  a  given 
city.  On  the  other  hand,  he  would  be  a  hasty  critic  who 
would  advise  Boston  or  Baltimore  to  return  to  municipal 
control.  The  present  method  of  police  organization  in 
those  cities  has  been  tested  practically.  The  adjustment 
of  public  opinion  has  been  made.     The  arrangement  now 

1  Ibid. 

136 


The  Present  State  of  Police  Control 

meets  with  fairly  constant  popular  support.  To  root  it 
out  merely  to  satisfy  some  abstract  ideal  of  local  self  gov- 
ernment would  be  the  course  of  unwisdom. 

Cities,  like  men,  are  shaped  and  controlled  by  different 
combinations  of  psychological  and  material  circum- 
stances. Only  through  the  appreciation  of  its  own  spe- 
cial tastes  and  needs  can  a  local  government  find  its  most 
effective  form. 

II.       BOARD    CONTROL    VS.    SINGLE-HEADED    CONTROL 

Of  the  63  cities  of  the  United  States  whose  popula- 
tions, according  to  the  census  estimates  of  191 5,  exceed 
100,000  seventeen  have  their  police  organizations  under 
the  control  of  boards  of  police  commissioners  or  boards  of 
public  safety.  The  police  departments  of  the  remaining 
cities  are  under  single-headed  management,  either  com- 
missioners or  chiefs  appointed  by  local  or  state  authority, 
or  in  the  somewhat  anomalous  guise  of  the  commission 
form  of  government.  The  principal  cities  in  which  po- 
lice boards  are  found  are  St.  Louis,  Baltimore,  Los  An- 
geles, San  Francisco,  Milwaukee,  New  Orleans,  Kansas 
City.  Indianapolis,  Providence,  Louisville,  and  Atlanta.^ 
Single-headed  police  control  is  found  in  Xew  York,  Chi- 
cago, Philadelphia,  Boston,  Cleveland,  Pittsburgh,  De- 
troit, Buffalo,  Newark,  Cincinnati,  Minneapolis,  Seattle, 
Jersey  City,  and  Portland,  Oregon.- 

^  The  other  cities  of  the  63  over  100,000  population  which  have 
police  boards  are  as  follows :  Xew  Haven,  Paterson,  Fall  River, 
Bridgeport,  Hartford,  Springfield   (Mass.). 

-  The  other  cities  of  the  63  over  100,000  population  which  have 
single-headed  management  are  as  follows :  Washington,  Denver, 
Rochester,  St.  Paul,  Columbus,  Oakland,  Toledo,  Birmingham, 
Omaha,  Worcester,  Richmond,  Syracuse,  Spokane,  Memphis,  Scran- 

^2>7 


American  Police  Systems 

The  boards  of  police  commissioners  vary  widely  as  to 
source  of  appointment,  size  and  functions.  In  St.  Louis, 
Baltimore  and  Kansas  City,  as  we  have  seen,  the  boards 
are  appointed  by  the  governors  of  the  respective  states; 
in  other  cases  they  are  appointed  by  local  authority,  gen- 
erally the  mayor,  with  or  without  the  confirmation  of  the 
common  council.  Often  the  mayor  is  himself  ex  officio 
an  officer  of  the  board.  In  Atlanta  and  other  southern 
cities  the  board  members  are  elected  by  the  municipal 
council,  one  member  being  chosen  from  each  of  the  wards 
into  which  the  cities  are  divided.^  New  Orleans  curi- 
ously combines  a  police  board  with  a  commission  form  of 
government,  the  board  consisting  of  the  mayor,  the  com- 
missioner of  public  safety  and  a  civilian  member  elected 
by  the  commission,-  The  size  of  the  boards  in  the  differ- 
ent cities  varies  from  three  members,  as  in  Kansas  City, 
Indianapolis,  Baltimore,  Los  Angeles,  Louisville  and 
Providence,  to  twelve  members  in  Atlanta.^  St.  Louis 
and  San  Francisco  have  boards  of  four;  Milwaukee,  a 
board  of  five;  New  Haven,  a  board  of  six. 

The  police  boards  are  for  the  most  part  charged  with 
complete  responsibility  for  the  enforcement  of  law. 
Most  of  them,  too,  are  given  full  powers  over  the  depart- 
ments which  they  control,  including  the  right,  under  oc- 

ton,  Grand  Rapids,  Dallas,  San  Antonio,  Dayton,  Salt  Lake  City, 
New  Bedford,  Nashville,  Tacoma,  Houston,  Cambridge,  Trenton, 
Lowell,  Youngstown,  Reading,  Albany,  Camden,  Lynn.  This  list  in- 
cludes commission  governed  cities. 

1  See  Laws  of  Ga.,  1908,  Part  III,  Title  L 

-  Laws  of  La.,  912,  No.  159. 

^  In  Kansas  City  and  Los  Angeles  the  membership  of  three  is  in- 
clusive of  the  mayor  ex  officio.  In  Atlanta  the  mayor  and  chairman 
of  the  police  committee  of  the  council  are  ex  officio  members  of  the 
board  of  twelve. 

138 


The  Present  State  of  Police  Control 

casional  civil  service  restrictions,  of  appointment  and  dis- 
missal of  members  of  the  force.  This  is  true  of  such 
cities  as  St.  Louis,  Baltimore,  Indianapolis  and  Louis- 
ville. There  are,  however,  one  or  two  notable  exceptions. 
In  Los  Angeles  the  chief  of  police  is  appointed  and  re- 
moved not  by  the  police  board  but  by  the  mayor.  Fur- 
ther—  in  the  words  of  the  act — "the  chief  of  police 
shall  have  the  supervision  and  control  of  the  police  force 
of  the  city  and  in  that  connection  he  shall  be  subject  only 
to  the  orders  of  the  mayor.'"  ^  As  a  result  the  board  is 
little  more  than  an  advisory  body.-  Because  it  has  no 
control  over  the  chief  it  lacks  contact  with  the  department 
and  is  obliged  to  confine  itself  to  such  perfunctory  duties 
as  the  issuance  of  licenses.  In  Milwaukee  the  police 
board  ^  is  given  no  administrative  powers  whatever. 
Indeed,  it  has  little  to  do  with  the  police  department  ex- 
cept to  appoint  the  chief  —  and  if  necessary  remove  him 
under  charges  reviewable  by  the  courts  —  and  act  as  a 
civil  service  commission  for  the  appointment  and  promo- 
tion of  officers  in  the  department.  Llaving  once  ap- 
pointed a  suitable  chief,  it  has  no  responsibility  for  the 
enforcement  of  law.  All  powers  as  regards  discipline, 
transfer  and  removal  are  lodged  exclusively  with  the 
chief. "^  Even  in  financial  matters  the  board  has  no  func- 
tions whatever.  In  making  up  the  departmental  budget 
the  chief  deals  directly  with  the  municipal  council  with- 
out the  intervention  either  of  the  mayor  or  the  police 

^  Los  Angeles  Charter  as  amended  April,  1913,  Sec.  53. 

-  The  anomaly  is  accentuated  by  the  fact  that  the  police  surgeon 
is  appointed  by  the  common  coimcil. 

•''  Called  Board  of  Fire  and  Police  Commissioners. 

••  In  cases  of  actual  removal,  police  ofticers  may  take  an  appeal  to 
the  board  of  commissioners. 


American  Police  Systems 

board.  Further,  he  makes  all  rules  governing  the  con- 
duct of  his  force  and  is  given  "  custody  and  control  of 
all  public  property  pertaining  to  said  department  and 
everything  connected  therewith  and  belonging  thereto."  ^ 
Throughout  the  act  and  in  its  operation  emphasis  is  laid 
upon  the  conception  of  the  chief  as  the  "  head  "  of  the 
department,  responsible  to  the  public  for  its  efficiency  and 
general  good  conduct,  while  the  board  is  relegated  to  a 
relatively  obscure  and  insignificant  position. 

The  Weaknesses  of  Board  Control. 

This  curious  arrangement  in  Los  Angeles  and  Mil- 
waukee, by  w^hich  a  board  is  created  and  then  shorn  of 
its  powers,  represents  an  attempt  —  crude,  perhaps,  and 
clumsily  put  into  operation  —  to  protect  the  police  de- 
partment against  the  excesses  of  board  control.  As  was 
pointed  out  in  the  last  chapter,  police  boards  were  estab- 
lished, not  because  they  were  fitted  for  police  administra- 
tion, but  because  the  board  system  was  supposed  to  be 
the  proper  form  of  municipal  government.  Los  Angeles 
and  Milwaukee,  therefore,  with  the  difficulties  of  other 
cities  in  mind,  have  erected  bulwarks  against  possible 
abuses  by  their  police  boards,  although  they  have  some- 
what naively  accepted  them  as  essential  parts  of  their  po- 
lice machinery. 

That  the  fears  of  these  cities  are  justified  not  only  by 
the  history  of  past  boards  but  by  present  conditions  in 
municipalities  which  retain  this  form  of  control  is  ob- 
vious to  any  student.  With  the  exception  of  Baltimore, 
where  the  high  character  of  the  appointees  has  often  out- 

iLaws  of  Wis.,  191 1,  Chap.  586,  Sec.  23. 

140 


The  Present  State  of  Police  Contiol 

weighed  the  inherent  ineffectiveness  of  board  manage- 
ment, most  of  the  cities  in  the  United  States  with  poHce 
boards  are  experiencing  difficulties  traceable  to  no  other 
source  than  the  decentrah'zation  of  authority  which  that 
form  of  control  inevitably  tends  to  develop.^  The  ab- 
sence of  individualized  responsibility,  the  ready  excuse 
with  which  a  single  member  can  shift  blame  for  joint 
failure  or  neglect,  the  sense  of  protection  furnished  by 
mere  corporate  entity  —  these  factors  create  an  atmos- 
phere in  which  shiftlessness  is  encouraged  and  personal 
rather  than  public  ends  are  easily  served.  Even  in  Bal- 
timore, among  the  members  themselves  of  present  and 
past  boards,  there  is  no  little  sentiment  for  single-headed 
management.  "  No  business  would  attempt  to  conduct 
its  affairs  under  the  supervision  of  three  heads  of  equal 
power,"  said  one  of  the  commissioners.  Said  another: 
"  For  the  money  spent  on  this  board  we  could  obtain  the 
services  of  an  excellent  administrator  who  could  give  his 
entire  time  to  the  direction  of  the  department  and  the 
study  of  its  problems.  Wherever  we  three  commission- 
ers have  accomplished  good  results,  o«ie  man  might  have 
done  even  better."  - 

Board  Administration  a  Part-time  Task. 

This  suggests  one  of  the  practical  objections  to  board 
administration  even  at  its  best.  It  is  a  part-time  task. 
Three  or  four  estimable  citizens,  preoccupied  with  their 
own  affairs,  are  asked  to  devote  some  fraction  of  their 

1  New  Haven  and  Fall  River  should  perhaps  be  mentioned  with 
Baltimore  as  noteworthy  exceptions  to  the  general  rule. 

-  Personally  communicated.     The  members  of  this  board  have  since 
been  superseded. 

141  ^ 


American  Police  Systems 

attention  to  the  management  of  an  enterprise  with  which, 
except  through  newspapers,  they  have  had  no  previous 
acquaintance.  Often  their  acceptance  of  the  appoint- 
ment is  conditioned  upon  the  understanding  that  they 
will  not  be  called  upon  to  give  more  than  a  specific 
amount  of  time  —  perhaps  only  to  attend  board  meetings. 
Otherwise  commissioners  of  adequate  calibre  could  not 
be  obtained.  With  no  appreciation  of  the  fact  that  po- 
lice management  is  a  highly  specialized  business  demand- 
ing an  intimate  and  often  technical  knowledge  of  mat- 
ters not  common  to  other  enterprises,  the  commissioners 
attempt,  with  the  help  of  the  clerks  whom  they  find  at 
headquarters  but  without  really  expert  advice,  to  exercise 
some  form  of  control.  In  most  cases  such  control  con- 
sists solely  in  the  disposal  of  routine  matters,  such  as  ap- 
pointments, transfers,  and  disciplinary  trials  at  the  stated 
meetings  of  the  board.  Policies  looking  toward  the  in- 
creased efficiency  of  the  department,  and  the  extension  of 
its  usefulness  as  an  instrument  of  public  good,  are  neg- 
lected. Indeed,  they  are  not  thought  of.  The  commis- 
sioners have  no  time  to  exercise  the  same  degree  and 
quality  of  initiative  and  imagination  that  would  be  neces- 
sary in  the  successful  operation  of  a  private  business. 
Technical  questions  relating  to  the  proper  organization  of 
a  detective  bureau,  to  the  policy  to  be  followed  in  the 
identification  of  criminals,  to  the  method  of  determining 
the  comparative  efficiency  of  members  of  the  uniformed 
force,  are  passed  over  without  consideration,  either  be- 
cause the  board  members  have  not  had  time  to  think  of 
them,  or  because  they  do  not  feel  themselves  competent 
to  pass  upon  them.     The  chief  of  the  department,  comr 

142 


The  Present  State  of  Police  Control 

ing  from  the  ranks,  is  seldom  gifted  with  constructive 
abiHty;  and  in  the  absence  of  other  expert  advice  no  pro- 
gressive steps  are  taken.  In  some  cases  the  board  does 
not  meet  often  enough  to  give  even  routine  matters  more 
than  a  superficial  and  perfunctory  oversight.  In  St. 
Louis  and  San  Francisco  it  meets  once  a  week;  in  New 
Haven  and  Paterson.  twice  a  month.^  Under  such  cir- 
cumstances it  is  impossible  for  the  commissioners  to  con- 
tribute anything  of  real  value  to  a  progressive  manage- 
ment of  the  force.  Of  the  many  police  commissioners 
whom  I  met  and  talked  with,  from  California  to  Maine, 
scarcely  half  a  dozen  showed  any  thorough  grasp  either 
of  the  technique  of  police  business  or  of  the  principles 
underlying  the  effective  management  of  a  police  force. 
Indeed,  in  most  cases  they  made  no  pretense  of  knowl- 
edge. They  were  very  busy  men,  who  devoted  such 
spare  moments  as  they  could  wrench  from  their  own  af- 
fairs to  the  more  or  less  thankless  task  of  "  looking: 
after  "  the  police  department.  Their  conception  of  police 
administration,  often  frankly  expressed,  was  merely  to 
maintain  the  status  quo  of  things  as  they  found  them. 

Lack  of  Unity  in  Board  Administration. 

Another  difficulty  attends  the  board  form  of  manage- 
ment even  at  its  best.     The  inevitable  lack  of  unity  in  its 

1  The  laws  regulating  some  of  the  police  departments  obviously 
contemplate  only  a  part-time  participancj-  by  the  commissioners. 
In  San  Francisco,  Los  Angeles,  and  Kansas  City  they  are  obliged 
to  meet  "at  least  once  a  week."  (San  Francisco  Charter,  .\rt.  VIII, 
Chap.  II,  Sec.  4;  Los  .Angeles  Charter,  Sec.  96;  Laws  of  Mo.,  1899, 
p.  65.)  The  Atlanta  ordinances  provide  that  the  board  "  shall  hold  a 
stated  meeting  each  month  and  such  other  meetings  as  the  public 
interest  may  from  time  to  time  require."  (Ordinances  of  Atlanta, 
Sec.  400.) 

143 


American  Police  Systems 

opinions  and  decisions  curtails  its  effectiveness  as  an  ad- 
ministrative instrument.  "  We  were  so  split  in  our  in- 
terests and  enthusiasms,"  said  a  former  board  member  of 
a  large  city  in  explaining  the  disruption  of  a  really  ex- 
cellent administration  in  which  he  had  served,  "  that  we 
never  really  centered  on  anything.  I  Avas  interested,  for 
example,  in  traffic  regulation,  but  the  other  two  members 
cared  little  about  it.  When  the  superintendent  (chief) 
saw  how  we  were  divided  he  did  nothing."  ^  Such  a 
situation  is  the  logical  result  of  a  multiple-headed  execu- 
tive. The  lack  of  decisiveness  creates  an  uncertainty  in 
the  uniformed  force,  and  the  fear  of  offending  either 
party  results  in  a  policy  of  inaction.  Moreover,  the  di- 
verse membership  of  the  board  affords  an  opportunity, 
seldom  overlooked  by  the  force,  to  interest  individual 
commissioners,  either  through  their  own  efforts  or  the 
efforts  of  their  friends,  political  and  otherwise,  in  their 
grievances  and  claims.  This  gives  rise  to  a  situation  in 
which,  in  the  absence  of  any  definite  policy  or  standard, 
the  recommendations  of  a  commissioner  are  apt  to  be 
accepted  by  the  board  without  reference  to  other  claims 
of  perhaps  equal  merit,  on  the  principle  of  "  courtesy  " 
so  often  enunciated  in  legislative  bodies.  A  commis- 
sioner voting  against  the  recommendation  of  another 
member  might  find  his  own  suggestions  vetoed  at  a  future 
date. 

Occasionally  disagreements  within  the  board  produce 
results  almost  ludicrous.  In  the  trial  of  two  sergeants 
in  Kansas  City  before  the  police  board  in  191 5,  one  com- 
missioner admitted  certain  questions  in  evidence  which 

1  Personally  communicated. 

144 


The  Present  State  of  Police  Control 

the  other  commissioner  declined  to  admit.  The  proceed- 
ings degenerated  into  an  acrimonious  wrangle.^  During 
the  Ruef-Schmitz  regime  in  San  Francisco  in  1905,  the 
poHce  board  stood  two  to  two  on  the  question  of  Hcensing 
the  notorious  "  French  Restaurants,"  and  Schmitz  was 
unable  to  put  through  his  vicious  plans  until  he  had  re- 
moved one  of  the  members.  Before  the  recent  change 
in  Newark  to  commission  government,  the  police  board 
was  deadlocked  for  many  months  over  the  appointment 
of  an  inspector  and  the  question  of  recommending  an 
increase  in  the  force.  Indeed,  the  "  deadlock  "  has  been 
characteristic  of  many  boards  throughout  the  country, 
particularly  those  with  membership  of  even  numbers. 
But  even  in  those  with  odd  numbers,  the  objections  of  the 
minority  have  often  produced  confusion  and  delay,  and 
the  departments  have  suffered  from  lack  of  definite  leader- 
ship. 

Convict  of  Authority  in  Board  Administration. 

Another  difficulty  to  which  the  police  board  lends  itself 
is  even  more  serious.  The  members  of  a  board,  in  the 
absence  of  definite  administrative  plans,  are  continually 
tempted  to  encroach  upon  the  proper  functions  of  the 
chief.  The  theory  of  the  board  form  of  management, 
whether  in  business  or  government,  is  that  it  creates  a 
deliberative  council,  presumably  representative  of  vari- 
ous points  of  view,  concerned  primarily  with  policies  of 
operation  and  procedure  and  the  maintenance  of  general 
regulative  oversight.  In  the  application  of  its  rules  and 
policies  to  specific  cases  it  has  no  direct  or  immediate  in- 

*  Kansas  City  Star,  January  30,  1915. 


American  Police  Systems 

terest.  These  things  are  matters  of  detail  for  which  its 
business  executive  or  superintendent  is  solely  responsible. 
This  distinction  in  function  between  a  deliberative  or 
regulative  body  and  its  executive  arm  furnishes  the  only 
possible  justification  for  the  existence  of  a  board.  With- 
out it  nothing  is  left  but  an  uncoordinated  executive  of 
many  heads.  When,  therefore,  a  police  board  infringes 
upon  the  proper  activities  of  the  chief  and  attempts  itself 
to  handle  the  detail  of  administration,  it  undermines  its 
only  basis  of  support. 

Unfortunately,  most  of  the  police  boards  in  the  United 
States  are  in  this  situation.  Neither  in  law  nor  in  prac- 
tice has  their  true  function  been  defined.  Indeed,  the 
laws  have  often  loaded  the  boards  with  duties  which  by 
no  process  of  reasoning  can  properly  belong  to  any  de- 
liberative body.  Even  in  those  departments  in  which  the 
prescriptions  of  laws  and  ordinances  are  not  definite  or 
detailed  there  is  little  attempt  at  clear-cut  differentiation, 
and  the  distinction  between  the  board's  duties  and  the 
chief's  duties  is  a  vague,  uncertain  line,  varying  from 
week  to  week  and  even  from  day  to  day,  dependent 
largely  upon  the  activity  and  attention  of  the  commis- 
sioners and  their  interest  in  particular  cases.  Often  the 
chief's  proper  functions  are  deliberately  raided  by  the 
board  because,  ignorant  of  the  formulation  of  construc- 
tive policies  or  the  principles  of  administration,  it  hastens 
to  lay  hands  upon  certain  routine  affairs  whose  nature 
it  understands.  While  holding  the  chief  responsible  for 
the  management  of  the  department,  it  nevertheless  ap- 
propriates enough  of  his  functions  to  render  him  practi- 
cally powerless.     The  most  trivial  details  of  police  busi- 

146 


The  Present  State  of  Police  Control 

ness  come  before  it  for  determination.  It  spends  hours 
in  deciding  whether  a  given  patrolman  was  off  his  beat  as 
charged  by  his  sergeant.  It  will  take  days  to  determine 
whether  the  chiefs  recommendation  for  the  dismissal 
of  a  drunken  officer  is  justified.  Most  of  its  time  is  given 
to  the  consideration  of  details  that  would  not  be  consid- 
ered for  a  moment  by  the  board  of  directors  of  a  busi- 
ness concern.  In  some  cities  the  police  boards  so  far 
usurp  the  functions  of  the  chief  that  they  even  e.xclude 
him  from  their  deliberations,  as  if  what  they  did  with 
his  men  was  none  of  his  affair.  In  Newark,  during  the 
life  of  the  board,  it  handled  all  transfers,  promotions,  and 
special  assignments  of  policemen,  occasionally  without 
the  knowledge,  often  without  the  recommendation,  of  the 
chief  of  police.^  A  situation  largely  similar  prevails  in 
other  municipalities,  notably  in  Kansas  City.  "  I  am  not 
consulted  on  such  matters,"  said  the  chief  of  police  of 
an  important  southern  city  in  talking  to  me  confidentially 
of  his  work.  "  I  hear  of  the  orders  of  the  commission 
through  the  secretary  of  the  board.  I  have  very  little  to 
do.     The  board  decides  all."  - 

This  frank  statement  is  significant  of  a  wide-spread 
condition.  There  are  but  few  chiefs  in  the  United  States 
serving  under  a  board,  who  will  not  in  confidential  mo- 
ments admit  the  continual  interference  on  the  part  of 
board  members  in  matters  properly  within  the  functions 
of  the  uniformed  force.  "  I  really  do  not  know  what 
my  duties  are,"  said  the  chief  of  a  large  city.  "  On 
paper  I  have  a  great  many,  but  most  of  them  are  per- 


1  Personally  communicated. 

2  Ibid. 


H7 


American  Police  Systems 

formed  by  the  board."  ^  So  flagrant  did  this  situation 
become  in  Atlanta  that  the  following  ordinance  —  more 
forceful  than  grammatical  —  was  passed  by  the  general 
council :  "  The  board  shall  discharge  hereafter  the 
duties  of  an  administrative  board  and  shall  not  be  per- 
mitted nor  shall  they  designate  any  of  their  members  to 
carry  out  the  orders  or  direction  of  the  board  as  to  mat- 
ters over  and  about  which  the  city  has  selected  officers  or 
patrolmen  to  cover  or  perform,  and  compensates  them 
therefor."  -  This  failing  to  correct  the  evil,  another 
ordinance  w^as  passed  to  the  effect  that  the  head  of  the 
police  department  (meaning  the  chief)  "shall  be  not 
only  the  nominal  but  the  actual  executive  head."  ^  Even 
this  ordinance  had  little  result.  At  the  time  of  my  visit 
to  Atlanta  the  board  was  attempting  to  determine  what 
disorderly  houses  should  be  raided  and  what  clubs  closed. 
The  police  boards  of  the  United  States  have  practically 
ceased  to  be  deliberative,  policy-forming  bodies,  if  in- 
deed they  ever  were.  The  difficulty  of  drawing  practical 
lines  of  differentiation,  the  mandatory  provisions  of  the 
law,  and  above  all,  the  limited  scope  for  the  deliberative 
function  in  police  administration,  have  driven  them  into 
other  fields,  and  they  perforce  have  become  simply  mul-. 
tiple-headed  executives.  In  some  cases,  undoubtedly  this 
is  what  the  law  intended  them  to  be.  It  is,  moreover, 
their  true  status  as  many  people  conceive  it.  Indeed,  if 
the  boards  did  not  usurp  some  of  the  proper  duties  of 
their  chiefs  they  would  have  little  to  do.     For  police 

1  Personally  communicated. 

2  Ordinances  of  Atlanta  (Compilation  of  1910),  No.  1,931. 

3  Ordinance  of  June  2,  1913. 

148 


The  Present  State  of  Police  Control 

management,  as  I  have  previously  pointed  out,  is  a  mat- 
ter not  so  much  of  dehberation  as  of  initiative,  decisive- 
ness, and  vigor.  There  are  but  few  broad  general  poli- 
cies arising  and  none  that  one  responsible  man  cannot 
determine.  There  is  little  need  of  a  council  to  consider 
and  discuss.  Even  the  judicial  aspects  of  the  board's 
work,  the  trial  of  offenses  and  the  determination  of  pun- 
ishments, can  be  handled  by  the  head  of  the  department, 
as  in  Milwaukee,  or  by  a  disciplinary  tribunal  within 
the  force  itself,  as  in  Boston  and  elsewhere.  This  func- 
tion alone  does  not  justify  the  existence  of  a  separate  ad- 
ministrative body.  In  brief,  a  board,  unless  scrupu- 
lously limited  in  its  function,  is  a  fifth  wheel,  an  incum- 
brance rather  than  a  help.  The  essential  qualities  in 
police  administration  are  those  which  a  single-headed 
executive  can  best  bring  to  the  task. 

Politics  and  Board  Adininistration. 

Thus  far  I  have  spoken  of  the  operation  of  the  police 
board  at  its  best  —  on  the  supposition  that  with  all  its 
inherent  administrative  weaknesses  its  personnel  repre- 
sented the  ablest  citizens  obtainable.  Unfortunately,  ex- 
cept in  a  few  cities,  this  supposition  is  without  foundation 
in  fact.  Because  of  its  multiple  membership  the  board 
seems  to  lend  itself  peculiarly  to  the  unhappy  incidents  of 
American  municipal  politics.  "  Give  him  a  place  on  the 
police  board.  Any  harm  that  he  can  do  will  be  counter- 
balanced by  the  other  members."  This  principle  has  led 
to  more  than  one  evil  appointment,  even  by  execu- 
tives above  the  usual  average.  One  can  go  through 
the  list  of  commissioners  of  all  the  board-controlled  de- 

149 


American  Police  Systems 

partments  and  find  but  few  who  on  the  basis  of  educa- 
tion and  general  abihty  alone,  not  to  mention  technical 
qualifications,  are  even  moderately  fitted  for  the  task. 
Too  often,  indeed,  the  boards  are  composed  of  political 
hacks  to  whom  the  post  is  a  "  job,"  bestowed  without  re- 
gard for  fitness,  as  a  reward  for  party  service.  In  some 
cities  appointments  of  such  a  character  constitute  an  es- 
tablished tradition,  supported  by  a  public  opinion  apathetic 
and  quiescent.  "  Police  business  is  nothing  but  politics 
anyway,"  said  a  cynical  citizen  of  Kansas  City  when  I 
expressed  amazement  at  the  unperturbed  public  attitude 
with  which  the  political  appointments  to  the  police  board 
were  received.  A  furniture  dealer  who  subsequently 
used  his  position  to  advertise  his  private  business  and  a 
"  personal  appointee  "  of  the  governor,  allied  with  one 
of  the  warring  political  factions  —  this  was  the  police 
board  unquestioningly  accepted  by  the  citizens  of  Kansas 
City  because  it  seemed  neither  better  nor  worse  than  its 
predecessors.  It  was  barely  ten  years  ago  in  San  Fran- 
cisco that  the  president  of  the  police  board  was  one  of 
the  Democratic  bosses  of  the  city,  a  saloon-keeper  by  pro- 
fession, whose  principal  official  act  was  "  to  open  up  the 
town,"  so  that  San  Francisco  might  become  "  the  Paris 
of  America."  Even  today,  politics  plays  no  little  part  in 
the  constitution  of  San  Francisco's  police  board.  St. 
Louis,  as  we  have  already  seen,  has  suffered  severely 
from  the  character  of  its  police  administrators,  and  the 
"  spoils  "  idea  has  too  often  marked  the  appointments. 
In  recent  years  there  has  been  considerable  improvement 
in  this  city,  but  as  late  as  191 6  an  attempt  was  made  by  the 

150 


The  Present  State  of  Police  Control 

governor  to  appoint  as  commissioner  a  man  previously 
convicted  of  murder. 

Elective  Boards. 

Conditions  appear  even  more  discouraging  when,  as 
in  Atlanta  and  other  southern  cities,  the  police  boards 
are  elected  by  the  common  councils  rather  than  appointed 
by  executive  authority.^  In  the  latter  contingency  there 
is  at  least  the  hope,  justified  by  occasional  experience,  that 
a  governor  or  mayor  will  act  upon  his  public  obligation 
to  appoint  effective  and  intelligent  police  commissioners. 
In  the  former  contingency  there  is  no  such  hope,  for  the 
very  method  of  selection,  at  least  in  the  present  stage  of 
municipal  development,  vitiates  the  results.  In  Atlanta, 
as  I  have  already  pointed  out.  the  members  of  the  police 
board,  to  the  number  of  twelve,  are  elected  on  the  basis 
of  district  representation,  one  member  from  each  of  the 
wards  into  which  the  city  is  divided.  The  practice  is 
for  the  two  councilmen  and  the  alderman  from  each  ward 
to  agree  upon  a  candidate  for  police  commissioner.  The 
nomination  is  thereupon  accepted  by  the  general  council 
without  debate  or  discussion,  because  the  representatives 
of  the  other  wards  wish  the  same  privilege  of  choosing 
their  candidates.  Until  recently,  similar  arrangements 
were  in  vogue  in  Richmond  (Va. ).  While  no  such 
definite  understanding  existed,  the  elections  to  the  police 
board  were  purely  matters  of  ward  politics,  in  which  the 
man  who  had  the  most  friends  and  could  command  the 
largest  number  of  votes  won  the  place. 
1  This  is  true  in  Durham,  N.  C.  Greenville,  S.  C,  and  Macon,  Ga. 


American  Police  Systems 

This  method  of  selection  is  based  upon  certain  con- 
fused analogies  which  are  not  without  defenders  in  some 
quarters  in  the  cities  above  mentioned  and  elsewhere : 
first,  that  ward  representation  on  the  police  board  is  de- 
sirable because  ours  is  a  representative  government ;  and 
second,  that  election  rather  than  appointment  to  a  police 
board  is  in  accordance  with  democratic  principles.  Mu- 
nicipal government  in  the  United  States  has  been  wrecked 
by  adherence  to  analogies  of  this  kind.  In  the  same  class 
is  the  idea  that  city  councils  must  be  bicameral  because 
the  legislative  branch  of  the  federal  government  is  bi- 
cameral, and  that  the  town  fathers  must  have  the  right 
to  veto  the  appointments  of  the  mayor  because  the  con- 
sent of  the  United  States  Senate  is  necessary  to  the  ap- 
pointments of  the  president.  In  framing  these  analogies 
little  thought  has  been  given  to  the  distinction  in  func- 
tion between  federal  and  municipal  government.  The 
former  was  organized  primarily  with  a  view  to  legisla- 
tive efficiency;  the  latter  is  a  matter  of  administrative 
efficiency.  The  peculiar  activities  of  a  city,  involving 
the  guardianship,  health  and  education  of  a  population 
stratified  by  racial,  economic  and  religious  lines,  while 
compressed  within  narrow  geographical  limits,  present  a 
unique  governmental  problem  comparable  only  to  a  lim- 
ited degree  with  the  problem  of  national  organization. 
The  test  of  a  form  of  government  to  be  applied  to  such 
a  situation  is  its  serviceability  and  not  its  resemblance 
to  forms  adapted  to  other  purposes.  The  question  to  be 
asked  is  not  whether  it  adheres  to  an  eighteenth  century 
political  ideal,  but  does  it  zvork? 

Under  such  a  test  as  this,  a  police  board  of  ward  repre- 

152 


The  Present  State  of  Police  Control 

sentatives  becomes  an  absurdity.  Instead  of  serving  the 
interests  of  efficient  police  organization  the  boards  of  At- 
lanta and  other  southern  cities  serve  the  interests  of  ward 
politics,  with  all  the  elements  of  barter  and  trade  which 
such  an  arrangement  in\olves.  Some  years  ago  in  Rich- 
mond the  board  passed  a  resolution  under  which  appoint- 
ments to  the  force  were  distributed  evenly  among  the 
wards,  each  commissioner  taking  his  turn  (arranged  on 
a  basis  of  seniority  in  service  with  the  board!)  in  naming 
his  candidate.  This  resolution  was  later  rescinded  and 
not  even  a  gentleman's  agreement  took  its  place.  "  They 
scrap  it  out  among  themselves,"  said  one  of  the  officials 
of  the  board,  "  each  commissioner  fighting  for  the  candi- 
dates from  his  own  ward.''  ^  In  Atlanta,  in  1914,  against 
the  bitter  opposition  of  the  chief,  the  police  board  rein- 
stated three  patrolmen  who  had  been  dismissed,  one  for 
habitual  drunkenness,  one  for  assaulting  a  citizen  while 
drunk,  and  one  for  entering  a  house  of  assignation  while 
drunk.-  The  only  explanation  for  this  step  which  I 
could  obtain  was  that  the  three  officers  in  question  "  had 
put  the  matter  up  to  their  ward  representatives  on  the 
board  and  had  been  taken  care  of."  Other  examples  of 
this  kind  were  brought  to  my  attention  in  both  Atlanta 
and  elsewhere. 

When  the  elective  method  of  choosing  police  commis- 
sioners is  added  to  ward  representation  on  the  board,  the 
results  are  peculiarly  disastrous.  In  the  scramble  for 
office,  ideas  of  administrative  experience  or  personal  fit- 

1  Personally  communicated. 

-  So  bitter  was  the  opposition  of  the  chief  that  the  board  put  him 
out  of  the  meeting  before  taking  action.  The  chief  was  later  dis- 
missed on  charges  preferred  by  the  board. 


American  Police  Systems 

ness,  not  to  mention  expert  service,  are  forgotten.  Thd 
issue  becomes  a  matter  of  "  influence  "  and  "  trade  "  or 
is  smothered  by  some  larger  political  question.  For 
years  the  boards  of  Atlanta  and  elsewhere  have  too  largely 
represented  not  only  less  desirable  but  occasionally  vicious 
elements.  The  better  class  of  citizens  holds  itself  aloof 
from  the  sordid  give  and  take  of  ward  politics,  and  the 
police  department  is  consequently  abandoned  to  those  who 
want  it.  At  the  time  of  my  visit  to  Atlanta  and  Rich- 
mond the  police  boards  of  the  two  cities  were  under 
grave  suspicion.  It  was  charged  that  one  member  was 
interested  in  the  cigar  business  which  had  the  contract  for 
tobacco  with  the  disorderly  houses,  and  that  another  was 
the  agent  for  the  liquor  concern  that  supplied  these  houses 
with  liquor.  One  member  had  been  warned  by  the  courts 
for  gambling;  one  had  been  under  indictment  for  im- 
morality and  cruelty ;  another  had  at  one  time  operated  a 
bar-room ;  another  engaged  in  the  small-loan  business  and 
was  known  as  a  "  loan  shark  " ;  against  two  others  the 
charge  was  openly  made  that  they  were  financially  inter- 
ested in  houses  of  prostitution.  These  men  had  been 
chosen  by  a  so-called  "  democratic  "  method  to  administer 
the  police  departments,  and  in  both  cities  good  citizens 
were  asking  why  their  police  affairs  should  be  so  continu- 
ally in  a  tangle ! 

Bi-partisan  'Boards. 

Results  equally  unhappy  if  not  so  demoralizing  are 
often  found  when  boards  are  constituted  on  the  bi-parti- 
san principle.^     This  principle,  as  we  have  seen,  is  based 
1  Bi-partisan  police  boards  are  legally  required  in  Baltimore,  San 


The  Present  State  of  Police  Control 

on  the  theory  that  the  action  of  two  opposing  forces  will 
create  a  sort  of  neutral  zone  favorable  to  the  development 
of  an  adequate  brand  of  administration.  It  is  an  elab- 
orated check  and  balance  system  that  sets  one  group  of 
party  representatives  to  watch  another.  The  groups  may 
be  equal  in  strength,  as  in  San  Francisco,  where  the  board 
is  composed  of  an  even  number ;  or  they  may  be  unequal 
in  strength,  as  in  Baltimore,  Fall  River,  and  Indianapolis, 
where  there  are  boards  of  three.  In  either  case,  the  ad- 
ministration of  the  police  department  tends  to  become  a 
matter  of  bargain  and  trade,  and  further,  in  odd-num- 
bered boards,  the  minority  is  often  ruthlessly  overridden 
and  the  very  purpose  of  the  arrangement  vitiated.  In 
this  latter  case  the  results  are  apt  to  be  peculiarly  de- 
plorable to  the  service,  because  the  board  members  who 
have  seized  the  reins  have  been  chosen  not  because  they 
were  expert  administrators  but  because  they  were  party 
representatives. 

The  anomaly  of  the  bi-partisan  board  as  a  scheme  of 
administration  is  shown  in  the  very  laws  creating  it. 
Elaborate  and  often  highly  technical  provisions  are  writ- 
ten into  the  statutes  to  keep  the  police  department  out  of 
politics,  while  in  the  same  paragraphs  the  commissioners 
are  drafted  from  the  political  parties  whose  influence  the 
law  is  avowedly  attempting  to  destroy.  Thus,  in  Balti- 
more the  charter  provides  that  the  commissioners  shall 
take  oath  before  the  Judge  of  the  Superior  Court  that  they 
"  will  in  no  case  and  under  no  pretext  appoint,  promote, 

Francisco,  Milwaukee,  Indianapolis,  New  Haven,  Fall  River,  and 
Bridgeport.  Occasionally  the  principle  is  followed  in  other  cities, 
on  the  basis  of  some  political  understanding  or  otherwise. 


American  Police  Systems 

reduce  in  rank  or  remove  any  policeman  or  officer  of 
police  or  detective,  or  any  other  person  under  them,  for 
or  on  account  of  the  political  opinions  or  affiliations  of 
such  policeman,  officer,  detective,  or  other  person,  or  for 
any  other  cause  or  reason  than  the  fitness  or  unfitness  of 
such  person."  ^  In  the  same  section  of  the  law  it  is  pro- 
vided that  "  two  of  said  commissioners  shall  always  be 
adherents  of  the  two  leading  political  parties  of  the  state, 
one  of  each  of  said  parties."  "  Similar  provisions  ap- 
pear in  other  charters,  and  out  of  the  attempt  to  make 
the  contradiction  work  grow  some  of  the  most  serious 
evils  of  board  management. 

Until  it  was  recently  abolished  Newark's  police  board 
furnished  perhaps  the  best  example  of  the  practical  oper- 
ation of  the  bi-partisan  principle.  It  was  composed  of 
two  Democrats  and  two  Republicans,  appointed  by  the 
mayor,  with  the  consent  of  the  city  council.  At  the  time 
of  my  first  visit  to  the  Newark  department  ^  the  board 
consisted  of  a  photographer,  an  architect,  a  contractor 
for  steamheating  plants,  and  an  employee  of  a  telephone 
company.  This  board  had  appointed  as  its  administra- 
tive secretary  an  attache  of  a  bowling  alley.  From  the 
very  first  the  board  was  deadlocked  on  matters  of  current 
business.  For  example,  the  rank  of  inspector  in  the  uni- 
formed force  was  created,  and  pending  a  civil  service 
examination  a  Republican  police  captain  was  appointed 
pro  tern.  When  the  examination  was  held  a  Democratic 
captain  headed  the  list,  the  Republican  captain  in  question 
standing  third.     The  Republicans  on  the  board  insisted 

1  Baltimore  Charter,  Revised  Edition,  1915,  Sec.  740. 

2  Ibid. 

3  In  October,  1916. 

156 


The  Present  State  of  Police  Control 

on  passing  the  first  two  names  on  the  hst  and  appointing 
their  own  party  man.  The  Democrats,  on  the  other  hand, 
with  their  belief  in  civil  service  principles  stimulated  by 
visions  of  a  Democratic  inspector,  refused  to  accede  to 
this  plan,  and  the  post  was  unfilled  for  over  a  year.  Ulti- 
mately the  deadlock  was  broken  by  creating  two  places 
and  appointing  both  inspectors.  Again,  the  Democratic 
commissioners  estimated  that  twenty-five  additional  po- 
licemen were  needed  on  the  force.  This  was  agreed  to 
by  the  board  as  a  whole  and  the  necessary  civil  service 
examinations  were  held.  When  the  matter  had  reached 
the  stage  of  appointments,  however,  the  Republican  com- 
missioners refused  to  take  action,  charging  that  the  mo- 
tive of  the  Democrats  in  attempting  to  add  to  the  force 
was  to  embarrass  the  Republican  city  administration  by 
increasing  the  budget.  This  deadlock  was  not  broken 
until  the  end  of  the  administration. 

Illustrations  quite  similar  could  be  given  of  police 
l)oards  in  San  Francisco  and  Indianapolis.  The  same 
kind  of  bargaining,  the  same  trading  of  support  has  char- 
acterized police  management  in  these  two  cities  at  one 
time  or  another.  For  years  in  Indianapolis  there  was  not 
even  a  pretense  of  non-partisanship  in  the  work  of  the 
board.  F.verything  from  the  appointment  of  a  patrol- 
man to  the  dismissal  of  a  chief  was  on  a  frankly  political 
basis.  It  was  a  game  in  which  the  minority  representa- 
tive on  the  board  got  what  he  could  for  his  own  party. 

Board  Administration  and  the  New  Development. 

Whether  bi-partisan,  uni-partisan,  or  professedly  non- 
partisan —  whatever    its     form    or    arrangement  —  the 

157 


American  Police  Systems 

board  plan  of  police  control,  with  its  divided  powers  and 
scattered  responsibilities,  plays  into  the  hands  of  the  most 
sinister  influences  in  American  politics.  Occasionally,  to 
be  sure,  the  high  character  of  the  commissioners  gives  an 
appearance  of  effectiveness  to  board  organization,  and 
the  results  are  credited  in  many  cpiarters  to  the  mechanical 
arrangement  and  not  to  the  men  behind  it.  But  board 
organization  in  such  cases  reflects  a  glory  not  its  own. 
Based  on  the  principle  of  decentralized  administration 
and  designed  to  prevent  an  abuse  of  power,  it  exhausts 
the  efforts  of  the  best-intentioned  commissioners  and  nul- 
lifies the  positive  qualities  of  leadership  which  constitute 
the  secret  of  successful  police  management. 

It  is  therefore  encouraging  to  note  the  trend  of  con- 
temporary opinion  toward  responsible  leadership.  The 
checks  and  balances  of  earlier  days  are  being  cast  aside 
in  the  belief  that  men  count  more  than  machinery  and 
that  an  arrangement  to  prevent  arbitrary  action  serves 
only  to  impede  positive  action  when  public  interest  de- 
mands it.  The  application  of  this  principle  to  police  or-'' 
ganization  has  resulted  in  single-headed  leadership,  now 
in  effect,  as  we  have  seen,  in  many  important  cities  of  the 
United  States,  including  the  three  largest.  But  single- 
headed  leadership,  as  a  bare  arrangement  of  control,  guar- 
antees nothing  in  the  way  of  better  police  methods.  It 
means  that  responsibility  for  bad  management  is  defini- 
tized,  and  that  the  public  can  more  readily  assess  the 
blame  for  evil  conditions ;  it  means  that  a  type  of  admin- 
istrative machinery  has  been  devised,  which  will  secure 
the  best  results  for  a  skilled  administrator.  Whether 
such  an  administrator  has  been   found,  and  if   found, 

158 


The  Present  State  of  Police  Control 

whether  he  has  been  permitted  to  manage  his  department 
without  political  hindrance,  are  questions  for  local  de- 
termination. In  the  same  breath  in  which  we  praise  the 
accomplishments  of  the  Boston  department  under  Com- 
missioner O'Meara  and  the  New  York  department  under 
Commissioner  Woods,  we  would  have  to  admit  that  un- 
der the  same  type  of  single-headed  control  the  Chicago 
force  reached  a  depth  of  demoralization  seldom  sounded 
even  in  American  cities.  Obviously,  other  factors  than 
mechanical  organization  must  enter  into  the  solution  of 
the  police  problem.  Of  these  factors,  the  type  of  admin- 
istrator is  perhaps  the  most  important,  and  to  the  con- 
sideration of  this  question  we  return  in  a  later  chapter.- 
For  the  present  we  can  only  note  the  improving  charac- 
ter of  the  framew^ork  of  police  control,  which,  in  line  wnth 
modern  business  organization,  is  based  upon  the  propo- 
sition that  responsibility  cannot  be  centered  without  cor- 
responding concentration  of  power. 


159 


CHAPTER  IV 

SPECIAL    PROBLEMS    OF    POLICE    CONTROL 

The  principle  of  responsible  leadership. —  Appointments  of  police 
heads. —  Removals  of  police  heads. —  The  jurisdiction  of  the  police 
department. —  Growth  of  suburbs. —  Disadvantages  of  conflicting  po- 
lice systems. —  Advantages  of  metropolitan  areas. —  Lack  of  stand- 
ards in  police  methods  as  between  states. —  Commission  government 
and  the  police  force. —  Personnel  of  commissions. —  Commission  gov- 
ernment wrong  in  principle. —  Commission  government  and  transient 
management. —  Commission  government  and  irresponsible  adminis- 
tration.—  The  effect  of  commission  government  on  the  police  force. — 
City  manager  plan. 

Several  incidental  questions  growing  out  of  the  gen- 
eral topic  of  police  control  and  management  remain  to 
be  discussed  in  this  chapter.  These  include  an  examina- 
tion of  one  of  the  factors  of  responsible  leadership,  a  con- 
sideration of  the  proper  jurisdiction  of  a  police  depart- 
ment, and  an  outline  of  the  police  problem  as  affected  by 
the  widely  adopted  commission  form  of  government. 
For  the  sake  of  clearness  these  topics  are  discussed  under 
appropriate  heads. 

I,     the  principle  of  responsible  leadership 

The  necessity  of  definite  responsibility  through  single- 
headed  leadership  involves  a  further  principle  to  which 
attention  should  be  called.  It  is  equally  essential  that 
the  responsibility  of  the  appointing  agent  in  the  selection 
of  the  police  head  should  be  clearly  and  sharply  defined. 

1 60 


Special  Problems  of  Police  Control 

If  such  responsibility  is  shared  by  some  legislative  body 
or  council  which  otherwise  has  no  jurisdiction  over  the 
administrative  branches  of  the  city  government,  the  lines 
of  control  are  confused  and  public  opinion  is  consequently 
unable  to  establish  accountability  for  unsatisfactory  po- 
lice conditions. 

This  point  of  view  frankly  clashes  with  the  principle 
of  legislative  confirmation  widely  held  in  many  parts  of 
the  United  States.  Copied  along  with  other  "  check  and 
balance  "  devices  from  the  pattern  of  the  federal  govern- 
ment, the  principle  was  applied  to  municipal  affairs,  not 
because  of  any  need  which  it  supplied,  but  because  at  the 
time  it  was  supposed  to  be  the  "  correct  "  governmental 
arrangement.  It  was  predicated  on  a  fear  of  the  execu- 
tive, a  belief  that  leadership  would  develop  into  tyranny. 
It  was  an  outgrowth  of  our  early  inhibitory  conceptions 
of  government  and  of  the  theory  that  charters  of  liberty 
could  not  at  the  same  time  be  charters  of  powers.  It 
was  one  of  many  expedients  which,  designed  to  guard 
against  the  abuse  of  authority  in  high  places,  has  nullified 
the  possibility  of  constructive  action  on  the  part  of  re- 
sponsible officials,  and  by  emphasis  on  limitations  of 
power  rather  than  on  impositions  of  duty  has  often  crip- 
pled the  machinery  of  positive  government  service. 

\\'hatever  may  be  thought  of  the  principle  of  legis- 
lative confirmation  in  higher  governmental  positions  as  a 
check  upon  the  discretion  of  the  executive,  it  is  certainly 
superfiuous  and  confusing  in  the  compact  adnfinistration 
of  the  city.  Abolished  in  some  municipalities  as  a  relic 
of  outworn  political  theories,* it  is  still  retained  in  many 
of  our  large  communties,  more,  perhaps,  as  a  concession 

i6i 


American  Police  Systems 

to  tradition  and  conservative  influences  than  because  of 
any  conscious  support  behind  it.  The  tradition  is  per- 
haps more  tenaciously  guarded  in  its  relation  to  the  poHce 
department  than  to  any  other  branch  of  municipal  ac- 
tivity, probably  because  of  the  belief  that  the  right  of  life, 
liberty,  and  property  can  be  seriously  affected  by  the  po- 
lice authorities  and  that  adequate  barriers  should  be 
erected  against  a  possible  abuse  of  their  powers.  It  is 
common,  therefore,  to  find  the  appointment  of  the  police 
head  conditioned  upon  confirmation  by  the  legislative 
council.  This  is  true  under  both  state  and  municipal 
control  of  police  organization.  Thus,  in  Baltimore,  St. 
Louis,  and  Kansas  City,  the  governor's  appointments  to 
the  police  boards  must  have  the  concurrence  of  the  state 
senate.  In  Boston  and  Fall  River  the  governor  appoints 
the  police  heads  with  the  approval  of  the  governor's  coun- 
cil. In  cities  like  Chicago,  Minneapolis,  Los  Angeles, 
Providence,  Pittsburgh,  Springfield  (Mass.),  Worcester, 
and  Cambridge  (Mass.)  the  police  heads  are  appointed 
by  the  mayor  with  the  consent  of  the  city  council.  Simi- 
larly in  many  of  the  commission  governed  municipalities, 
as  we  shall  see,  such  as  Buffalo,  Memphis,  Nashville,  and 
Dallas,  the  appointments  of  the  director  of  public  safety 
must  be  confirmed  by  the  commission. 

In  some  few  cities  the  nominations  of  the  appointing 
officer  are  accepted  without  question.  In  others,  by  far 
the  greater  number,  the  theory  that  the  council  refuses  its 
confirmation  only  in  cases  of  unfitness  is  frankly  thrown 
aside,  and  the  power  is  used  for  partisan  purposes,  either 
to  embarrass  or  coerce  the  executive,  or  as  a  basis  for 
political  trade.     The  situation  is  especially  confused  and 

162 


Special  Problems  of  Police  Control 

the  results  particularly  demoralizing  when  the  mayor  rep- 
resents one  political  party  and  the  council  another.  In 
Newark  in  191 5  the  two  Democrats  nominated  for  the 
police  board  by  the  Republican  mayor  were  turned  down 
by  the  council  because,  in  the  words  of  the  mayor,  "  Nu- 
gent (the  'boss'  of  Essex  County)  said  they  were  not 
good  Democrats."  ^  Thereupon  two  others  more  ac- 
ceptable for  their  faith  were  appointed.  In  191 7,  in  the 
same  city  under  the  same  circumstances,  confirmation  was 
refused  by  the  council  to  seventeen  out  of  eighteen  names 
submitted  by  the  mayor  as  members  of  the  police,  fire 
and  health  boards.  No  reason  was  given  for  the  sum- 
mary action,  but  the  mayor's  attempt  to  force  an  investi- 
gation of  the  council  was  undoubtedly  responsible.  The 
one  nominee  successful  in  obtaining  confirmation  was  a 
collector  for  a  brewery,  whose  brother  was  a  member  of 
the  council. 

Examples  of  this  kind  could  be  multiplied  at  length. 
The  departments  of  many  cities  are  today  suffering  from 
the  lack  of  definite  responsibility  for  police  management. 
It  is  doubtful  whether  the  confirmation  principle  has  ever 
proved  an  effective  check  upon  the  exercise  of  the  mayor's 
discretion  or  has  in  any  way  safeguarded  the  cities  against 
the  selection  of  incompetents.  In  too  many  cases,  indeed, 
it  has  served  as  a  cloak  to  allow  the  mayor  to  escape  with 
inferior  appointments. 

The  same  conditions  of  confused  responsibility  follow 
the  principle  of  legislative  approval  of  removals.  I  am 
here  referring  not  to  the  separate  powers  of  removal 
sometimes  lodged  in  different  agencies  of  government  — 

1  Personally  communicated. 

163 


American  Police  Systems 

as,  for  example,  the  right  of  removal  of  New  York's  po- 
lice commissioner  by  either  the  mayor  or  the  governor  — 
but  to  the  joint  responsibility  in  this  matter  of  executive 
and  legislative  branches.  Thus  in  Cambridge  "  the 
mayor  may,  zcith  the  approval  of  a  majority  of  the  nieni- 
bers  of  the  city  council,  remove  any  head  of  a  department 
or  member  of  a  board  before  expiration  of  his  term  of 
office."  ^  Similar  provisions  affecting  members  of  the 
police  boards  are  found  in  Providence  ^  and  in  vSpring- 
field  (Mass.)-^  In  Chicago,  the  council  can,  by  a  two- 
thirds  vote,  restore  to  office  any  official,  including  the  su- 
perintendent of  police,  removed  by  the  mayor. ^  In 
Worcester  (Mass.)  the  head  of  the  police  force  can  be 
reinstated  by  a  three-fourths  vote  of  the  board  of  alder- 
men.^ In  Hartford  (Conn.)  the  concurrence  of  four 
members  of  the  board  of  aldermen  is  necessary  to  re- 
moval.*' In  Boston  '^  and  Fall  River  ^  the  removal  of 
police  commissioners  by  the  governor  requires  the  consent 
of  the  council.^ 

Cambridge  (Mass.)   furnishes  an  excellent  illustration 

1  General  Acts  of  Mass.,  191S,  Chap.  267,  Part  III.  This  provision 
is  uniform  in  all  Massachusetts  cities  having  Plan  B  charters. 

2  Acts  of  R.  I.,  1906,  Chap.  1379. 

3  Ordinance  of  August  2,  1902. 

4  Laws  of  III,  1875,  P-  41- 

^  City  Ordinances,  Chap.  XXXI,  Sec.  i. 

^  City  Charter  1907,  Chap.  9,  Sec.  loi. 

"^  Acts  of  Mass.,  1906,  Chap.  291,  Sec.  7. 

8  Acts  of  Mass.,  1894,  Chap.  351. 

°  The  executive  council  has  not  hesitated  to  interfere  with  the 
governor's  management  of  Boston's  police  force.  In  1891  the  gov- 
ernor's attempt  to  remove  a  police  commissioner  on  serious  charges 
was  thwarted  by  the  council,  the  vote  being  unanimous  against  the 
proposal  (Executive  council  records  for  1891,  p.  45).  Again  in  1897 
the  council  prevented  the  removal  of  a  commissioner  against  whom 
charges  had  been  filed  (Records  for  1897,  p.  6). 

164 


Special  Problems  of  Police  Control 

of  the  practical  operation  of  this  principle.  Without  war- 
rant in  necessity,  the  position  of  director  of  public  safety 
was  created  in  19 12;  its  subsequent  history  completely 
demonstrated  the  uselessness  of  the  post.  The  efforts  of 
a  new  mayor,  elected  in  19 16  on  a  reform  ticket,  to  abol- 
ish the  position  were  thwarted  by  a  majority  of  the  coun- 
cil representing  another  political  party.  The  council  it- 
self assumed  no  responsibility  for  the  management  of  the 
force,  and  did  not  hesitate  to  criticize  the  mayor  in  his 
struggles  to  reorganize  it ;  on  the  other  hand,  the  action 
of  the  council  effectively  prevented  the  mayor  from  exer- 
cising his  responsibility  for  the  efficient  administration  of 
an  executive  department. 

It  is,  of  course,  an  open  question  how  far  a  mayor  or 
governor  or  other  executive  officer  should  be  allowed  to 
go  in  removing  at  will  the  heads  of  departments.  As  we 
shall  see  in  a  later  chapter,  administrative  efficiency  is 
largely  predicated  on  continuity  of  service,  and  there  is 
little  hope  for  a  specialized  function  of  government  like 
health  or  police  so  long  as  it  is  under  the  direction  of  a 
periodically  shifting  body  of  officials,  drawn  for  political 
motives  from  an  inexperienced  public.  Whether  the  rem- 
edy for  such  periodic  removals  is  to  be  found  in  legisla- 
tion, or  whether  it  is  a  matter  that  must  be  left  to  the 
slow  processes  of  education  is  beyond  the  limits  of  this 
present  discussion.^  One  principle,  however,  can  be  defi- 
nitely stated:  If  removals  are  to  be  made,  the  responsi- 
bility should  not  be  scattered ;  it  should  be  sharply  defined, 
single  and  not  joint.     Our  too  frequent  assumption  that 

1  The  maUer  is  discussed  in  Chap.  VI,  under  the  heading:  TiiK 
Chief  and  Civil  Service,  p.  259. 

165 


American  Police  Systems 

an  executive,  obliged  to  share  his  powers  with  an  entirely 
separate  branch  of  government,  can  be  held  solely  answer- 
able for  administrative  results,  is  an  irreconcilable  para- 
dox. 

II.       THE    JURISDICTION    OF   THE    POLICE   DEPARTMENT 

Policing  in  America,  as  we  have  seen,  has  generally 
been  regarded  as  a  function  of  the  municipality.  Even 
when  controlled  by  state  authorities  its  operation  has  been 
confined  to  a  particular  city  rather  than  to  a  district  em- 
bracing perhaps  a  number  of  cities  and  towns.  This 
policy  was  the  natural  development  of  a  period  when 
cities  were  widely  scattered  and  when  little  was  to  be 
gained  from  combination  and  centralization. 

Within  two  decades,  however,  radical  changes  have 
been  wrought  by  the  concentration  of  population  in  metro- 
politan districts  or  sections,  irrespective  of  established 
city  boundaries.  Not  only  have  cities  enlarged  their  lim- 
its, but  the  intervening  towns  and  villages  have  grown 
to  fill  in  the  gaps,  so  that  what  is  in  reality  one  vast  city 
is  often  made  up  of  a  dozen  or  more  municipalities,  each 
with  its  own  system  of  government  and  its  own  laws. 
This  situation  is  illustrated,  for  example,  by  the  condition 
in  eastern  Massachusetts.  Within  a  radius  of  approxi- 
mately twelve  miles  of  the  center  of  the  business  district 
of  Boston  are  38  cities  and  towns,  all  except  six  exceeding 
5,000  in  population,  with  a  total  population  of  over 
840,000.  That  is,  while  the  city  of  Boston  has  a  popula- 
tion of  745,000,  the  metropolitan  district  of  Boston,  con- 
sisting of  practically  unbroken  urban  development,  has  a 

166 


Special  Problems  of  Police  Control 

population  of  1,588,000.^  Within  this  territory  which, 
geographically  speaking,  is  not  extensive,  and  which  has 
already  been  consolidated  into  a  single  district  for  pur- 
poses of  metropolitan  park  administration,  are  39  differ- 
ent police  forces,  each  with  exclusive  jurisdiction  over  a 
portion  of  the  field,  and  each  independent  of  any  common 
superior  authority." 

A  similar  situation  is  shown  in  connection  with  the 
vast,  continuous  population  bordering  on  and  stretching 
back  from  the  western  bank  of  the  Hudson  River  oppo- 
site New  York  City.  Here  we  have  within  approxi- 
mately thirty  square  miles  nine  cities,  towns,  and  town- 
ships: Jersey  City  with  a  population  of  270,000,  Ho- 
boken  with  67,000,  West  Hoboken  with  38,000,  Bayonne 
with  64,000,  West  New  York  with  22,000,  Union  with 
21,000,  North  Bergen  with  20,000,  Weehawken  with 
13,000,  and  Guttenberg  with  6,000.  Altogether  they 
comprise  a  composite  city  of  527,000.^  Each  of  these 
places,  separated  from  its  neighbors  by  boundary  lines 
long  since  outworn,  maintains  its  own  police  force  under 
standards  good,  bad,  or  indifferent. 

Illustrations  such  as  this  could  be  multiplied  at  length. 
Most  of  the  large  cities  of  the  country  are  fringed  by 

^  These  figures  are  obtained  from  the  state  census  of  Massachu- 
setts, 1915. 

-  In  1917  a  bill  was  introduced  into  the  Massachusetts  legislature, 
creating  five  police  districts  in  the  state,  one  of  which  was  to  include 
Boston  and  adjacent  territory;  each  district  was  placed  under  the 
control  of  a  district  commissioner,  who  should  have  general  super- 
vision over  all  city  and  town  forces  within  his  jurisdiction,  and  be 
answerable  for  his  acts  to  a  state  commissioner  of  police.  The  bill 
failed  of  passage.     (See  House  Document  Xo.  539,  January,  1917.) 

^  These  figures  are  obtained  from  the  state  census  of  New  Jersey, 

167 


American  Police  Systems 

municipalities  and  townships  separated  from  their  com- 
mon centers  by  fictitious  boundaries  rather  than  by  any 
real  divergence  of  interest  or  population.^  In  conse- 
quence, the  function  of  policing,  instead  of  being  unified 
and  coordinated  under  single  management  for  a  single 
people,  is  broken  up  and  scattered  in  patch-work  fashion 
among  irregularly  formed  groups. 

This  criticism  is  of  course  true  of  other  government 
functions,  such  as  public  works  and  the  health  service. 
It  is  particularly  applicable,  however,  to  the  police  and 
fire  forces.  The  management  of  these  forces  is  con- 
cerned primarily  with  the  protection  of  lives  and  prop- 
erty. It  is  a  matter  of  finding  the  factors  which  will 
promote  the  most  efficient  service.  There  are  but  few 
questions  of  broad  general  policy  to  be  considered,  such 
as  relate  to  the  management  of  local  public  works,  for 
example,  the  determination  of  which  must  necessarily  be 
left  to  the  individual  community.  Rather,  police  and 
fire  management  is  a  distinctly  technical  problem  ofifering 
little  legitimate  opportunity  for  differences  of  opinion 
based  on  local  or  parochial  grounds.  Policing  in  Ho- 
boken  demands  the  same  intelligent  methods  and  adminis- 
trative oversight  as  in  West  Hoboken. 

These  two  services,  moreover,  fire  and  police,  gain 
much  from  coordination  and  amalgamation.  The  police 
and  fire  forces  of  Greater  New  York,  each  now  under 
single  management,  are  far  more  effective  today  than 
they  were  when  Manhattan,  Brooklyn,  Long  Island  City, 

1  In  Detroit  three  separate  villages,  Highland  Park,  Hamtramck, 
and  St.  Clair  Heights  are  completely  within  the  city  limits.  Each 
village,  however,  has  its  own  distinct  municipal  government. 

1 68 


special  Problems  of  Police  Control 

and  the  many  scattered  towns  in  Queens  County  had  their 
own  departments,  each  more  or  less  self-sufficient  and 
jealous  of  its  own  prestige.  Standardization  of  method 
under  single  leadership  has  lifted  both  services  to  a  de- 
gree of  effectiveness  impossible  under  diverse  manage- 
ment. In  not  a  few  of  the  towns  and  cities  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  Jersey  City  and  of  Boston,  police  conditions 
are  distinctly  inferior,  sometimes  demoralized,  because  of 
a  lack  of  means  adequately  to  maintain  a  separate  estab- 
lishment, with  all  the  heavy  overhead  charges  which  such 
independence  involves.  Moreover,  separation  in  man- 
agement is  a  serious  handicap  to  the  effectiveness  of  po- 
lice work,  in  that  it  renders  impossible  a  single  policy  and 
a  united  front  against  crime.  Under  modern  conditions 
of  life  the  traveling  professional  criminal  has  come  to 
play  a  predominant  part  in  the  police  problem,  and  the 
success  of  any  endeavor  to  counteract  his  work  depends 
in  large  measure  upon  harmonious  cooperation,  over  a 
wide  area,  of  the  forces  of  law  and  order. 

London  faced  the  question  of  divided  police  jurisdic- 
tion within  a  metropolitan  area,  when,  in  1829,  out  of  a 
number  of  boroughs  and  counties,  supporting  several  in- 
effective and  conflicting  constabulary  systems,  she  carved 
the  metropolitan  police  district,  which  today  embraces 
700  square  miles  and  supports  the  largest  and  undoubt- 
edly the  best  local  force  in  the  world.  Prior  to  1829  the 
same  combination  existed  of  parochial  jealousies,  lack  of 
cooperation,  and  general  demoralization  typical  today  of 
the  situation  in  northern  Xew  Jersey  and  elsewhere  in  the 
United  States.^ 

1  See  European  Police  Systems,  p.  100. 

169 


American  Police  Systems 

Similarly  in  Berlin  the  district  over  which  the  police 
president  presides  was  in  1900  enlarged  to  include  the 
neighboring  suburbs  of  Charlottenburg,  Schoneberg, 
Neukolln  and  Lichtenberg.^  In  Paris  the  authority  of 
the  prefect  of  police  extends  over  the  whole  department 
of  the  Seine,  including  the  communes  of  St.  Cloud, 
Sevres,  and  Meudon." 

Police  consolidation  for  metropolitan  areas  would  un- 
doubtedly produce  beneficial  results  in  the  United  States. 
The  increase  of  crime  in  urban  districts,  traceable  in 
many  cases  to  the  isolation  of  small  police  departments 
in  heavily  populated  sections  would  seem  to  make  neces- 
sary some  form  of  cooperation  as  yet  untried.  The  diffi- 
culty of  creating  an  administrative  district  for  the  exer- 
cise of  a  single  government  function  is  admittedly  for- 
midable although  precedents  for  such  action  exist. ^ 
Where  the  police  commissioner  is  appointed  by  the  gov- 
ernor, as  in  Boston,  it  would  seem  that  his  jurisdiction 
could  easily  be  extended  by  act  of  legislature,  without 
violent  wrench  to  principles  of  local  autonomy.  In  the 
Jersey  City  district,  however,  where  no  state  control  of 
police  forces  exists,  consolidation  would  involve  either 
the  creation  of  some  new  machinery  of  supervision,  based 
perhaps  on  a  federalized  or  representative  system,  or  a 
frank  return  to  the  metropolitan  police  arrangement  un- 
der state  control.  Either  course  would  be  fraught  with 
difficulty.  Of  the  growing  need  of  some  such  action, 
however,  there  can  be  no  question.     In  many  urban  cen- 

1  Ibid.,  p.  109. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  88. 

3  As  for  example,  the  Metropolitan  Park  Commission  and  the 
Metropolitan  Water  and  Sewerage  Board  in  Massachusetts. 

170 


special  Problems  of  Police  Control 

ters,  particularly  where  communities  more  or  less  para- 
sitic have  developed  around  the  original  city,  the  diffi- 
culty could  be  solved  by  extending  the  geographical  limits 
of  the  municipality  for  the  exercise  not  only  of  the  police 
function,  but  of  other  local  governmental  functions  as 
well. 

We  cannot  leave  the  consideration  of  this  subject  with- 
out at  least  a  passing  reference  to  a  perplexing  problem 
which  it  uncovers.  In  all  our  populous  states  are  literally 
scores  of  police  forces,  maintained  not  only  by  cities, 
towns  and  villages  but  occasionally  by  park  area  adminis- 
trations and  other  governmental  units.  Except  in  occa- 
sional matters  of  insignificant  detail,  these  police  forces 
are  independent  of  any  common  superior  authority  and 
uncoordinated  by  any  single  agency  of  supervision. 
Within  a  given  state,  therefore,  it  is  possible  to  find  po- 
lice departments  of  widely  varying  degrees  of  efficiency, 
representing  all  sorts  of  standards,  high  and  low.  Ef- 
fective cooperation  between  these  forces  is  not  only  non- 
existent but  practically  impossible,  with  the  result  that 
crime  and  lawlessness  are  difficult  to  prevent  and  still 
more  difficult  to  punish. 

The  formation  of  state  constabulary  systems  will  in 
part  remedy  this  condition  by  eliminating  many  of  the 
village  forces  and  by  providing  a  single  agency  for  the 
apprehension  of  criminals  in  country  districts  and  in 
small  communities.  There  still  remains  a  large  part  of 
the  problem,  however,  which  the  state  constabulary  sys- 
tem will  not  touch.  Why  in  New  York  State,  for  exam- 
ple, should  it  be  possible  to  find  such  marked  variations 
in  police  efficiency,  to  say  nothing  of  police  practices  and 

171 


American  Police  Systems 

methods,  as  exist  between  the  departments  of  New  York 
City  and  Buffalo  or  of  Rochester  and  Albany?  Why  in 
a  state  like  Ohio  should  there  not  be  some  uniformity  in 
police  procedure,  some  standardization  in  the  technique 
of  police  work,  which  will  bring  the  weaker  forces  up  to 
higher  levels  and  make  possible  some  degree  of  effective 
cooperation? 

The  experience  of  Europe  in  the  solution  of  this  prob- 
lem is  worthy  of  consideration.  In  England,  after  a  long 
period  of  demoralization,  similar  to  that  which  exists  in 
many  of  our  states  today,  Parliament  passed,  in  1856, 
the  Rural  Police  Act  which  standardized  the  system  of 
police  administration  for  the  entire  country.  This  act 
provided  for  the  appointment  of  Inspectors  of  Constabu- 
lary under  the  Home  Office  with  authority  to  visit  and 
inquire  into  the  state  and  general  efficiency  of  the  police 
in  the  various  towns  and  counties  ^  of  England  and 
Wales.  It  further  provided  that  on  certificates  from  the 
Home  Secretary  to  the  effect  that  the  police  force  of  a 
locality  is  efficient  in  point  of  numbers  and  discipline,  a 
sum  not  exceeding  one-half  part  of  the  total  cost  of  the 
pay  and  clothing  of  the  force  was  to  be  contributed  from 
the  national  treasury.  Through  the  operation  of  this  act 
there  was  established  a  complete  system  of  national  su- 
pervision over  all  the  police  forces  of  England  and  Wales, 
which,  while  it  in  no  way  robs  the  cities  and  counties  of 
the  right  of  local  control,  stimulates  their  efforts  to  main- 

1  Each  county  in  England  has  its  own  police  force  with  complete 
jurisdiction  except  in  the  municipalities  that  have  their  own  forces; 
but  municipalities  with  a  population  of  less  than  20,000  are  debarred 
from  having  separate  police  departments.  (See  European  Police 
Systems,  pp.  61-64.) 

172 


Special  Problems  of  Police  Control 

tain  an  efficient  standard  and  introduce  uniformity  into 
their  organization  and  management.  To  be  sure,  the 
Home  Office,  particularly  as  far  as  the  towns  and  cities 
are  concerned,  has  no  positive  authority  over  the  police 
force.  It  cannot  remove  an  official  or  compel  the  adop- 
tion of  any  improvements.  It  acts  only  in  the  capacity 
of  friendly  guide.  Its  sole  lever  is  the  national  subven- 
tion or  grant  in  aid,  which  may  be  withheld  if  the  report 
of  the  supervising  inspector  indicates  unsatisfactory  con- 
ditions.^ 

While  it  is  probable  that  the  English  plan  in  its  entirety 
could  not  easily  be  adapted  to  a  state  like  New  York  or 
Ohio,  it  is  nevertheless  suggestive  of  a  method  of  super- 
vision and  coordination  in  no  way  fatal  to  the  principle 
of  local  autonomy.  Some  such  plan  would  undoubtedly 
pro\e  of  great  benefit  to  our  states.  It  is  encouraging, 
therefore,  to  note  the  report  of  the  special  commission 
on  police  appointed  in  191 6  by  the  governor  of  Massa- 
chusetts in  which  the  establishment  of  a  system  of  super- 
vision through  a  state  commissioner  of  police  was  strongly 
urged.  It  is  possible  that  the  particular  method  sug- 
gested by  the  commission  was  faulty  and  that  the  details 
of  the  proposed  organization  would  not  stand  the  test  of 
practical  operation.  The  idea  underlying  the  plan,  how- 
ever, points  the  way  toward  a  uniformity  of  police  prac- 
tice and  method  and  a  standardization  of  work  without 
which  no  real  progress  can  be  made  in  the  positive  devel- 
opment of  police  effectiveness. 

1  For  a  discussion  of  the  operation  of  this  plan,  see  European  Po- 
lice Systems,  pp.  48-64. 


173 


American  Police  Systems 

III.       COMMISSION    GOVERNMENT    AND    THE    POLICE 
FORCE 

The  commission  form  of  government  has  been  so 
widely  adopted  and  presents  so  many  interesting  admin- 
istrative problems,  that  its  relation  to  the  police  depart- 
ment deserves  separate  consideration.  It  is  now  in  force 
in  2/  of  the  69  cities  in  the  United  States  over  100,000 
population/  and  in  105  cities  over  30,000,^  while  of  cities 
of  all  classes  it  is  installed  in  over  500.^  It  represents  a 
reaction  against  the  inefficiency  of  the  mayor  and  council 
plan  of  city  government,  and  its  success  in  stimulating 
official  effort  and  in  creating  a  new  and  better  civic  spirit 
has  been  attested  by  competent  observers.'* 

1  According  to  U.  S.  Census  publication,  "  Financial  Statistics  of 
Cities," — 1917,  there  were  26  cities  as  follows:  Birmingham  (Ala.), 
Buffalo,  Dallas,  Dayton,  Des  Moines,  Fort  Worth,  Houston,  Jersey 
City,  Kansas  City  (Kan.),  Lawrence,  Lowell,  Lynn,  Memphis,  Nash- 
ville, New  Orleans,  Oakland  (Cal.),  Omaha,  Portland  (Ore.),  Read- 
ing, St.  Paul,  Salt  Lake  City,  San  Antonio,  Spokane,  Tacoma.  Tren- 
ton, Washington  (D.  C).  Since  the  beginning  of  1917  Newark 
has  adopted  the  commission  form  of  government  and  Grand  Rapids 
has  adopted  the  commission  manager  plan,  while  Lynn  has  aban- 
doned commission  government. 

~  Ibid.  The  U.  S.  statistics  show  91  cities  but  since  1917  East  St. 
Louis,  111.,  Jacksonville,  Fla.,  Bay  City,  Mich.,  and  Charlotte,  N.  C, 
have  adopted  commission  government,  and  the  commission  manager 
form  has  been  adopted  in  the  following  cities :  Akron,  O.,  Auburn, 
N.  Y.,  Charleston,  W.  Va.,  Fresno,  Cal.,  Kalamazoo,  Mich.,  Lynch- 
burg, Va.,  Norfolk,  Va.,  Roanoke,  Va.,  Waltham,  Mass.,  Wheeling, 
W.  Va. 

^  These  figures  include  city  manager  and  commission  governed 
cities. 

*  See  City  Government  by  Commission,  edited  by  Clinton  Rogers 
Woodruff,  New  York,  191 1;  Cotnmission  Government  in  American 
Cities,  by  Ernest  S.  Bradford,  New  York,  191 1;  Commission  Gov-< 
ertiment  in  American  Cities,  printed  in  the  Annals  of  the  American 
Academy  of  Political  and  Social  Science,  191 1;  The  Nczv  City  Gov- 
ernment, by  Henry  Bruere,  New  York,  1912;  Municipal  Freedom, 
by  Oswald  Ryan,  New  York,  1915;  History  and  Analysis  of  the 
Commission  and  City  Manager  Plans  of  Municipal  Government  in 


Special  Problems  of  Police  Control 

The  Personnel  of  Commissions. 

Our  interest  lies  in  tlie  relation  of  commission  govern- 
ment to  the  particular  function  of  policing.  Briefly,  the 
commission  consists  of  a  board,  generally  of  five  mem- 
bers elected  at  large,  combining  in  itself  all  the  legislative 
and  administrative  functions  of  the  municipality.  Each 
commissioner  assumes  charge  of  a  particular  department 
of  the  city  government ;  and  ordinarily  he  is  paid  a  salary 
which  enables  him  to  devote  his  entire  time  to  the  work.^ 
He  is  thus  not  only  a  director  in  city  affairs  but  an  active 
administrator  of  a  city  department.  In  some  cities  the 
assignment  of  departments  is  a  matter  of  board  action, 
the  commissioners  themselves  determining  what  depart- 
ment each  shall  head;  in  others,  a  candidate  for  election 
designates  in  advance  the  particular  department  he  wishes 
to  administer,  and  the  electors  at  the  polls  are  asked  to 
pass  upon  his  qualifications  for  the  post.  In  twelve  of 
the  twenty-seven  commission  cities  over  100,000  popula- 
tion, this  latter  method  is  in  effect ;  and  the  choice  of 
administrative  heads  of  particular  departments  is  thus 
left  to  the  exigencies  of  a  popular  election.  In  Buffalo 
Portland  (Ore.),  Houston,  Birmingham  (Ala.),  Nash- 
ville and  other  important  municipalities,  the  director  of 
public  safety  and  his  colleagues  are  chosen  by  a  method 
which,  as  w^e  have  already  seen,  is  utterly  unadapted  to 

the  United  States,  by  Tso-Shuen  Chang,  University  of  Iowa,  Iowa 
City,  1918. 

1  In  Buffalo  the  mayor-commissioner's  salary  is  $8,000  a  j'ear,  and 
that  of  the  other  commissioners  is  $7,000  each  ;  the  commissioners 
in  Birmingham  (Ala.)  receive  $7,000;  in  Memphis  the  maj-or-com- 
missioner's  salary  is  $6,000,  and  the  others  receive  $3,000 ;  in  Spo- 
kane the  salary  is  $5,000  to  all  alike ;  St.  Paul  pays  $5,000  to  the 
mayor-commissioner  and  $4,500  to  the  others. 


American  Police  Systems 

the  selection  of  trained  administrators.  Its  results  are 
shown  by  an  analysis  of  the  personnel  of  some  of  the 
boards.  Barbers,  undertakers,  dentists,  stone-masons, 
carpenters,  and  bakers  have  been  elected  to  manage  the 
affairs  of  city  departments.  In  Elgin,  Illinois,  the  com- 
missioner of  health  was  recently  a  harness  maker.  Ig- 
norant of  the  meaning  or  significance  of  typhoid  fever 
reports  turned  in  by  the  doctors,  he  allowed  them  to  accu- 
mulate on  his  desk  until  an  epidemic  swept  the  town.  In 
Houston,  Texas,  the  commissioner  of  streets  and  bridges 
was  a  horse-shoer,  the  commissioner  of  finance  a  ma- 
chinist, and  the  commissioner  of  health  a  printer.  In 
Topeka,  Kansas,  the  commissioner  of  public  utilities  was 
a  barber,  and  the  commissioner  of  parks  and  sanitation 
a  house-mover.  Jersey  City  had  an  undertaker  as  a  com- 
missioner of  health.  Kansas  City,  Kansas,  had  a  gro- 
ceryman  as  commissioner  of  streets,  and  Lynn,  Massa- 
chusetts, a  pressman  from  a  newspaper  office  as  com- 
missioner of  finance.  The  point,  of  course,  is  not  that 
these  various  employments  ought  not  to  be  represented 
in  municipal  government,  but  that  they  do  not  fit  a  man 
for  an  occupation  demanding  technical,  administrative 
ability. 

Commission  Government  Wrong  in  Principle. 

Even  when  the  assignment  to  departments  is  left  to  the 
judgment  of  the  board,  the  results  are  but  little  changed. 
A  commissioner  may  be  given  a  department  for  which 
he  has  no  special  talent;  or  his  lack  of  training  and  ex- 
perience may  unfit  him  to  serve  as  an  administrator  of  any 
department.     The  difficulty  with  the  situation  is  rooted  in 

176 


Special  Problems  of  Police  Control 

the  very  conception  of  the  commission  plan.  It  confuses 
the  deHberative  or  policy- forming  function  of  city  govern- 
ment with  its  technical,  administrative  function.  One  is 
the  determination  of  community  plans  in  the  light  of 
public  opinion ;  the  other  is  the  management  of  specialized 
lines  of  business  by  competent  experts.  The  former  in 
republican  government  must  necessarily  be  based  on  some 
kind  of  representative  principle;  in  the  latter  the  repre- 
sentative principle  has  no  proper  place.  It  is  quite  pos- 
sible that  the  carpenters  or  iron-workers  or  doctors  of  a 
community  might  feel  that  either  their  own  professions 
or  the  broader  interests  they  typify  should  be  represented 
in  the  city's  regulative  machinery;  on  the  other  hand,  it 
is  impossible  to  conceive  of  a  carpenter's  way  or  an 
iron- worker's  way  or  a  doctor's  way  of  managing  a  po- 
lice force  or  a  department  of  public  works.  The  com- 
mission plan  was  framed  with  only  the  administrative 
necessities  of  a  city  in  mind,  on  the  theory  that  the  peo- 
ple at  the  polls  would  choose  their  commissioners  for 
administrative  ability,  and  that  these  commissioners  could 
incidentally  be  entrusted  with  the  legislative,  policy-form- 
ing functions  of  the  city  government.  While  the  old  idea 
of  sectional  or  geographical  representation  was  wisely 
omitted  from  the  plan,  no  provision  was  made  for  the 
representation  of  different  points  of  view  in  regard  to 
city  policy  or  of  different  groups  or  classes.  By  impli- 
cation, at  least,  the  commission  plan  limits  the  people  in 
their  selection  of  commissioners  to  men  of  the  employer 
type,  competent  to  hire  and  direct  the  labor  of  other  men. 
With  an  instinct,  however,  more  deep-seated  and  far 
truer  than  the  instinct  of  charter-makers,  the  citizens  of 

177 


American  Police  Systems 

most  commission  cities  have  elected  their  commissioners, 
not  for  their  administrative  abihties,  but  because  they 
were  representative  of  a  group,  a  poHcy,  or  a  principle. 
The  basic  administrative  feature  of  the  plan  has  been 
largely  neglected  or  else,  under  the  lingering  spell  of 
Jacksonian  principles,  the  voters  have  argued  that  any 
honest  man  of  average  ability,  regardless  of  his  previous 
experience,  is  fitted  to  run  a  city  department.  In  other 
words,  although  commission  government  fails  to  provide 
for  the  principle  of  representation,  the  public  at  the  polls 
sweeps  aside  the  intent  of  the  charter  and  makes  that 
principle  its  gauge  and  standard.  When  Wichita,  Kan- 
sas, elected  a  railway  switchman  on  its  commission,  or 
when  Topeka,  Kansas,  elected  a  barber,  it  was  not  be- 
cause these  men  were  regarded  as  administrative  experts, 
but  because  they  were  representative  of  particular  groups 
with  particular  points  of  view.  As  members  of  the  com- 
mission, their  ideas  were  worthy  contributions  to  the 
joint  discussion  of  municipal  projects.  In  one  of  these 
cases,  indeed,  no  opinion  on  city  policy  of  any  of  the 
commissioners  was  more  anxiously  awaited  or  more  thor- 
oughly respected.  The  absurdity  of  the  situation  lay  in 
the  fact  that  these  two  public  servants,  valuable  in  a  rep- 
resentative capacity,  should  be  called  upon  to  reorganize 
and  manage  specific  city  departments  —  one  a  water  de- 
partment and  the  other  a  department  of  public  works  — 
without  any  qualifications  whatsoever  for  the  task. 

This  situation  is  clearly  evident  in  the  management  of 
the  police  force.  Prior  to  his  election,  the  director  of 
public  safety  in  New  Orleans  was  engaged  in  the  insur- 
ance business;  in  Newark  he  was  the  business  agent  of 

178 


special  Problems  of  Police  Control 

the  Stationary  Firemen's  Union ;  in  Salt  Lake  City  he  was 
a  city  auditor.  In  Memphis  the  commissioner  of  fire 
and  police  was  a  manufacturer  of  mixed  feeds;  in  Nash- 
ville, a  merchant.  These  commissioners  or  directors  are 
many  of  them  men  of  character,  and  some  have  real  ad- 
ministrative ability.  In  only  a  few  cases,  however,  is 
their  ability  adapted  to  the  highly  specialized  require- 
ments of  either  police  management  or  city  management 
generally.  They  can  maintain  the  status  of  their  depart- 
ments as  they  have  inherited  it,  but  they  are  seldom  able 
to  reorganize  and  reconstruct  on  new,  progressive  lines. 

To  meet  the  difficulties  inherent  in  this  situation,  the 
apologists  of  the  commission  plan  sometimes  conceive  the 
commissioner  as  a  kind  of  supervisor  whose  function  it  is, 
not  to  assume  direct  administrative  charge  of  the  details 
of  his  department,  but  to  hold  himself  responsible  for 
its  general  policies,  and  advise  with  the  permanent  expert 
officials  under  him.  This  conception,  however,  does  not 
square  with  the  facts.  Almost  without  exception,  in  the 
cities  visited,  the  commissioners  regard  themselves  as  the 
actual  administrators  of  their  departments.  All  the  inti- 
mate detail  of  departmental  business,  the  means  and 
methods  by  which  ends  are  achieved,  come  before  them 
for  determination.  Transfers,  promotions,  assignments, 
and  questions  involving  technical  points  of  organization 
and  procedure  are  their  immediate  concern.  Indeed,  in 
most  cases,  this  conception  is  in  accordance  with  the 
intent  of  the  commission  charters.  As  we  have  seen,  the 
commissioners  are  paid  substantial  salaries,  and  many  of 
them  are  obliged  to  give  full  time  to  their  tasks.  Under 
such  circumstances  it  is  not  practicable  to  have  expert 

179 


American  Police  Systems 

administrators  of  high  grade  serving  under  the  commis- 
sioners. As  President  Lowell  points  out,  such  an  ar- 
rangement would  be  playing  false  to  the  public  by  taking 
pay  for  work  unperformed,  even  if  the  double  charge 
of  full  salaries  to  both  commissioner  and  administrator 
were  not  prohibitive.^ 

Commission  Government  and  Transient  Management. 

Not  only  does  the  commission  form  of  government  in- 
troduce police  administrators  inexperienced  and  unfitted 
for  their  tasks,  but,  because  of  the  recurrent  elections 
naturally  involved  in  the  plan,  it  subjects  the  departments 
to  the  demoralizing  influences  of  transient  management. 
The  value  of  permanence  in  high  executive  positions  is 
ignored.  Here  again  we  see  the  confusion  arising  from 
the  attempt  to  confer  upon  a  policy-forming  body,  sub- 
ject to  the  uncertainties  of  popular  control,  specialized 
administrative  functions  in  which  success  is  based  alone 
upon  security  and  continuity  in  office.  In  many  commis- 
sion cities  the  commissioners  serve  for  two  years;  in 
some,  for  three;  and  in  some  for  four.  The  elections, 
in  cases  of  candidates  standing  to  succeed  themselves,  are 

1  Public  Opinion  and  Popular  Government,  New  York,  1913,  p.  287. 
In  Newark,  New  Jersey,  an  effort  has  been  made  to  provide  expert 
administrators  for  the  several  divisions  included  in  the  department 
of  public  safety.  The  elected  director  of  public  safety  appoints  a 
board  of  three  members  known  as  the  board  of  public  safety.  One 
member  is  given  charge  of  administering  the  police  department  with 
the  title  of  police  commissioner,  one  serves  as  fire  commissioner  and 
the  other  as  commissioner  of  licenses.  In  so  far  as  the  law  de- 
fining the  duties  of  elected  city  commissioners  permits,  adminis- 
trative functions  are  delegated  to  the  respective  subordinate  cora- 
rhissioners  in  charge  of  the  fire,  police,  and  license  departments. 
They  are  responsible  to  the  director  for  the  management  of  their 
departments ;  their  term  of  office  is  at  the  pleasure  of  the  director. 

^  180 


Special  Problems  of  Police  Control 

seldom  contested  on  the  basis  of  administrative  ability; 
the  issue  is  formed  by  political  questions  or  by  contro- 
versies arising  from  the  activities  of  the  commissioners 
in  their  legislative  capacities.  In  consequence,  the  di- 
rector of  public  safety  and  his  associates  are  not  long 
enough  in  office  to  learn  even  the  meaning  or  possibilities 
of  their  departments.  In  Omaha  there  have  been  three 
directors  of  public  safety  in  eight  years;  in  Dallas,  Texas, 
six  in  thirteen  years ;  in  Memphis,  ten  in  ten  years.  The 
tenure  is  so  insecure  that  serious  attention  cannot  be 
paid  to  policies  which  take  time  to  develop.  What  new 
projects  are  initiated  are  often  abandoned  by  a  fresh  ad- 
ministration, and  the  department,  instead  of  sailing  on  a 
definite  course  carefully  mapped  out,  merely  drifts  in 
vacillation  and  uncertainty. 

The  periodic  elections  of  administrative  heads  often 
prove  an  incentive  to  political  activity  within  the  depart- 
ment. The  members  of  a  police  force  will  work  for  the 
election  or  reelection  of  a  "  good  "  commissioner,  while 
they  will  oppose  the  candidacy  of  one  whose  point  of 
view  they  regard  as  hostile  to  their  own  interests.  In 
Omaha  in  1914,  the  commissioner  of  police,  running  for 
reelection,  received  the  solid  support  of  the  entire  depart- 
ment. "  W'g  worked  our  heads  off  for  him,''  an  officer 
of  the  force  told  me.  "  He  had  treated  us  square.''  Said 
the  secretary  of  the  department :  "  The  police  are  more 
mixed  up  in  the  political  game  now,  under  commission 
government,  than  they  were  under  the  old  regime."  This 
situation,  paralleled  in  some  other  commission  cities, 
notably  St.  Paul  and  Birmingham,  is  the  inevitable  conse- 
([uence  of  an  elective,  administrative  head. 

i8i 


American  Police  Systems 

Commission  Government  and  Irresponsible  Administrch 
tion. 

Another  weakness  of  the  commission  plan,  reflected  in 
the  management  of  the  poHce  force,  lies  in  the  fact  that 
in  many  cities  employees  cannot  be  dismissed  by  the  di- 
rector in  charge  of  the  department  without  the  approval 
of  the  commission.  This  is  true  in  Buffalo,  Jersey  City, 
St.  Paul,  Birmingham,  Omaha,  Salt  Lake  City,  San  An- 
tonio, and  many  other  municipalities.  In  some  cities  all 
disciplinary  fines  and  penalties  and  all  appointments  must 
have  the  sanction  of  the  commission.  In  other  words, 
in  so  far  as  this  interference  is  prevalent,  commission 
government  represents  in  its  relation  to  the  police  force 
nothing  else  than  the  multiple  management  and  divided 
responsibility  of  the  old  type  of  police  board. ^  With  the 
commission  exercising  its  right  to  check  the  director  in 
the  handling  of  his  men,  no  one  official  can  be  held  solely 
answerable  for  the  conduct  of  the  department  —  an  ar- 
rangement productive  of  all  the  vicious  results  of  scatter- 
ing control.  In  Jersey  City  in  1915,  the  director  of 
public  safety  attempted  to  remove  the  chief  of  police  on 
charges  of  drunkenness  and  insubordination.     By  a  vote 

1  In  at  least  one  city  —  East  St.  Louis,  Illinois  —  the  commission 
form  of  government  has  not  eliminated  the  old  system  of  board 
control.  The  law  creating  the  commission  provides  that  the  boards 
of  fire  and  police  commissioners  shall  not  be  disturbed  (Laws  of 
111.,  1910.)  Consequently,  in  this  city  the  elected  commissioner  of 
public  health  and  safety,  charged  with  the  administration  of  the 
police  department,  yields  his  authority  to  a  board  of  fire  and  police 
commissioners  appointed  by  the  mayor  with  the  consent  of  the  city 
commission,  of  which  the  commissioner  of  public  health  and  safety 
is  himself  a  member.  To  add  to  the  chaos  of  this  situation,  re- 
movals from  the  police  department  are  effected  by  a  trial  board 
consisting  of  the  county  judge,  the  circuit  judge,  and  the  county 
probate  judge! 

182 


Special  Problems  of  Police  Control 

of  three  to  two,  the  commission  refused  to  sustain  the  di- 
rector, and  the  chief  was  reinstated  in  full  power.  At 
the  time  of  the  investigator's  visit  to  Jersey  City,  the  di- 
rector was  manoeuvering  to  discipHne  a  heutenant  of  the 
force  without  incurring  the  disapproval  of  the  board. 
"  My  colleagues  are  not  concerned  with  me  or  my  de- 
partment," he  said.  "If  it  will  bring  them  any  votes  to 
be  lenient  with  '  John  Brown  '  of  the  police  force  when 
he  is  on  trial,  '  John  Brown  '  will  undoubtedly  get  off 
easy.  They  will  play  the  political  game  straight  through 
and  win  as  much  favor  as  possible  before  concerning 
themselves  with  the  discipline  of  my  department." 

Similarly,  in  San  Antonio  the  attempt  of  the  director 
pf  public  safety  to  remove  the  chief  of  police  was  frus- 
trated by  the  commission.  In  this  case,  to  be  sure,  the 
commission  acted  in  the  public  interest,  for  the  director's 
move  was  prompted  by  his  desire  to  secure  the  position 
for  a  friend  —  an  iceman  by  profession.  At  the  same 
time,  the  director  of  public  safety  had  been  elected  by  the 
people  to  manage  the  police  department,  and  the  inter- 
ference by  the  commission  tangled  the  lines  of  responsi- 
bility. 

The  Effect  of  Commission  Government  on  the  Police 
Force. 

It  is  difficult  to  appraise  the  commission  form  of  gov- 
ernment in  its  relation  to  a  particular  branch  of  municipal 
service.  Police  duty  in  America  has  been  to  so  large  an 
extent  an  unimaginative,  perfunctory  routine  that  it 
would  probably  l)e  the  last  phase  of  city  government  to 
feel  the  stimulus  of  a  new  movement.     Certainly,  of  any 

i83 


American  Police  Systems 

positive  effect  of  commission  government  upon  the  work 
and  administrative  mechanism  of  the  pohce  department, 
httle  can  be  seen  at  the  present  time.  Indeed,  a  survey 
of  a  number  of  commission  cities  seems  to  justify  the 
conclusion  that  the  plan  has  made  no  impression  whatever 
upon  the  business  of  policing.  In  some  cities  commission 
government  is  little  more  than  an  ornamental  device, 
superimposed  upon  old  methods  and  worn  out  practices 
—  a  more  or  less  elaborate  machine  of  control,  without 
contact  or  connection  with  the  real  working  of  the  de- 
partment. In  Omaha,  for  example,  at  the  time  of  my 
visit,  the  same  political  boss  who  ran  the  police  force 
under  the  old  regime  was  running  it  under  commission 
government.  Similarly  in  Jersey  City  the  same  political 
influences  that  wrecked  police  administrations  in  other 
years  were  in  active  operation.  In  St.  Paul  commission 
government  had  not  shaken  the  grip  of  the  political  ring 
on  the  police  department.  Birmingham,  Alabama,  with 
eight  or  nine  years  of  commission  government  to  its 
credit,  has  perhaps  one  of  the  shabbiest  police  organiza-* 
tions  of  any  large  city  in  the  United  States.  With  no 
civil  service,  with  no  standards  for  appointment  or  pro- 
motion, with  no  modern  equipment,  with  nothing  to  stim- 
ulate effectiveness  or  punish  slackness,  its  affairs  through- 
out are  governed  by  the  petty  politics  of  the  commission. 
In  none  of  these  police  departments  is  there  any  knowl- 
edge of  progressive  methods  in  police  work,  or  any  genu- 
ine desire  for  change.  Down-at-the-heel  and  contented, 
with  no  vision  and  no  constructive  policies,  they  follow  in 
the  rut  of  previous   administrations.     I   asked   a  well- 

184 


Special  Problems  of  Police  Control 

known  citizen  of  Omaha  what  effect  commission  govern- 
ment had  had  upon  the  police  administration  of  his  city, 
"  It  has  not  even  made  a  dent  in  it,"  he  repHed.  This  re- 
mark could  truthfully  be  applied  to  many  of  the  commis- 
sion cities  visited. 

I  do  not  mean  to  imply,  of  course,  that  the  police  de- 
partments of  commission  cities  are  worse  than  those  of 
the  mayor  and  council  type.  Probably  they  are  better. 
In  some  of  the  smaller  cities,  such  as  Cedar  Rapids  and 
Des  Moines,  Iowa,  they  are  decidedly  better.  The  stimu- 
lated civic  spirit  which  brought  the  commission  plan  into 
being  would  necessarily  be  transmuted  at  least  into  a  tem- 
porarily improved  attitude  on  the  part  of  public  officials. 
Indeed,  one  is  led  to  suspect  that  the  good  results  credited 
to  commission  government  are  due  not  so  much  to  any 
particular  merit  in  the  plan  itself  as  to  the  "  new  broom  " 
enthusiasm  which  accompanies  the  introduction  of  any 
civic  novelty.  Commission  government  is  given  the  ap- 
pearance of  efficiency  because  in  many  cases  the  reins  of 
control  are  in  new  hands.  But  without  a  program  of 
administrative  reorganization,  without  trained  men  as 
executives  to  manage  the  details  of  the  work,  w-ithout 
imagination  in  the  development  of  departmental  func- 
tions; —  in  brief,  without  constructive  leadership  to  study 
and  anticipate  community  requirements, —  the  results  of 
the  new  plan,  or  of  any  other  plan,  cannot  be  permanent.. 
Commission  government  provides  for  none  of  these 
things.  It  is  a  mere  reshaping  of  the  governmental  ma- 
chine, with  serious  inherent  cjefects.  Unless  it  can  bring 
to  its  service  the  effective,  united  leadership  which  its 

185 


American  Police  Systems 

very  construction  seems  to  bar,  it  will  go  the  way  of 
other  artificial  arrangements,  equally  promising  at  the 
start. 

City  Manager  Plan. 

A  word  in  conclusion  is  necessary  as  to  the  operation 
of  the  city  manager  plan  —  a  modification  of  commission 
government.  This  plan  has  grown  in  recognition  of  the 
fact  that  the  commission  government  scheme  does  not  pro- 
vide administrators  trained  in  municipal  affairs.  Under 
the  commission  manager  plan,  the  elected  city  commis- 
sioners constitute  the  city's  legislative  body,  and  are 
charged  with  the  responsibility  for  laying  down  the  gen- 
eral policies  to  be  followed  in  the  various  branches  of 
municipal  administration.  The  city  commission  appoints 
the  manager  who  takes  over  all  purely  administrative 
functions.  The  commission  is  simply  a  board  of  ad- 
visers or  directors,  devoting  its  energies  to  plans  and 
policies,  and  maintaining  its  contact  with  the  city  govern- 
ment through  its  business  representative.^ 

In  Dayton  the  city  manager  appoints  a  director  of  pub- 
lic safety  subject  to  the  approval  of  the  city  commission. 

lAt  the  present  writing,  January,  1920,  165  communities,  notably 
Dayton  and  Akron,  Ohio,  and  Grand  Rapids,  Michigan,  are  oper- 
ating under  or  pledged  to  the  commission  manager  plan.  Of  the 
165  cities  and  towns,  105  have  approved  city  manager  charters,  ten 
have  charters  with  some  standard  feature  of  the  manager  plan  lack- 
ing, and  in  50  communities  the  position  of  manager  has  been  created 
by  ordinance.  (See  National  Municipal  Review,  Januarv,  1920.)  In 
the  past  seven  years  the  plan  has  become  eflfective  in  the  following 
seven  cities  having  a  population  ranging  from  50,000  to  100,000: 
Akron,  Ohio;  Altoona,  Penn. ;  Kalamazoo,  Mich.;  Norfolk,  Va. ; 
San  Diego,  Cal. ;  Springfield,  Ohio;  Wichita,  Kan.  Twelve  cities 
from  30,000  to  50,000  have  the  commission  manager  plan  at  the 
present  time. 

186 


Special  Problems  of  Police  Control 

The  director  has  immediate  control  of  the  pohce  and  fire 
departments  and  the  Inireau  of  weights  and  measures. 
In  smaller  cities  having  the  commission  manager  plan, 
there  is  no  officer  between  the  city  manager  and  the  pro- 
fe'ssional  head  of  the  police  force. 

The  results  achieved  by  the  city  manager  scheme  de- 
pend largely  upon  the  skill  of  the  manager  and  the  pres- 
ence or  absence  of  politics  in  the  board.  Certainly  in 
freeing  the  elected  commissioners  from  the  necessity  of 
administering  particular  departments,  the  city  manager 
arrangement  contains  a  degree  of  promise  which  cannot 
be  looked  for  in  the  regular  commission  form  of  govern- 
ment. 

It  is  still  too  early  to  appraise  the  effect  of  this  plan 
upon  the  police  department.  As  w^e  shall  see  in  a  later 
chapter,  its  installation  in  the  largest  city  in  which  it  is 
now  in  operation,  Dayton,  Ohio,  has  been  attended  with 
some  administrative  confusion.  In  other  cities  the  vi- 
cious play  of  politics  has  not  been  eliminated  in  spite  of 
the  theoretic  merits  of  the  plan.  Whether  this  scheme  by 
itself  offers  any  permanent  solution  of  the  evils  with 
which  our  police  departments  have  long  been  associated, 
has  yet  to  be  proven. 


187 


,   CHAPTER  V 

THE   ORGANIZATION    OF    THE    DEPARTMENT 

General  organization. —  Relation  between  supervision  and  work. — 
Examples. —  Adjustment  of  the  machinery  to  its  task. —  Examples. — 
Adaptation  of  the  machinery  to  its  work. —  Faulty  mechanism  due  to 
inelastic  legal  restrictions. —  Illustrations. —  European  departments 
far  more  elastic—  Faulty  mechanism  due  to  unnecessary  functions. — 
Faulty  mechanism  due  to  inadequate  leadership. 

I 

The  organization  of  American  police  departments 
shows  little  divergence  from  a  standard  type.  In  most 
of  the  larger  cities  a  civilian  commissioner  or  director, 
or  a  civilian  board,  controls  the  force  through  a  chief  or 
superintendent.  The  same  director  or  board  may  also 
control  other  municipal  functions,  such  as  fire  and 
health.^  In  smaller  cities  the  civilian  adininistrative 
agencies  are  often  omitted,  and  the  chief  as  head  of  the 

1  In  Philadelphia,  for  example,  the  director  of  public  safety  has 
under  his  jurisdiction  the  fire  and  police  forces  of  the  city  as  well 
as  the  bureau  for  the  inspection  of  buildings.  Arrangements  largely 
similar  prevail  in  Alilwaukee,  Louisville,  Indianapolis,  and  in  most 
of  the  commission  governed  cities.  Sometimes  a  miscellaneous  as- 
sortment of  activities  is  brought  under  the  control  of  a  single  ad- 
ministrator or  board.  In  Louisville  the  charter  provides  that  the 
board  of  public  safety  shall  have  exclusive  jurisdiction  of  "the  fire 
department,  the  police  department,  the  health  department,  the  depart- 
ment of  buildings,  of  the  pounds,  and  prisons,  and  market  places, 
and  of  all  the  charitable,  reformatory  and  penal  institutions  of  the 
city."  (Charter  of  Louisville,  Sec.  2,861.)  Mobile  (Ala.)  has  a 
department  known  as  the  "Department  of  health,  justice,  sanitation, 
pounds,  police,  cemeteries,  meat  and  milk,  weights  and  measures." 

188 


The  Organization  of  the  Department 

force  is  responsible  to  the  mayor  or  other  appointing 
officer. 

The  structure  of  the  department  includes,  as  its  two 
main  branches,  the  uniformed  force  and  the  detective  bu- 
reau. The  cities  are  generally  divided  into  precincts  or 
districts  in  charge  of  a  ranking  officer,  usually  a  captain. 
In  larger  cities  the  precincts  are  grouped  into  several  ter- 
ritorial divisions  under  an  inspector  or  other  official,  or 
occasionally  they  may  have  subdivisions  of  their  own. 
The  precincts  have  their  "  beats  "  for  patrol  purposes 
and  their  fixed  posts,  and  there  is  the  usual  accompani- 
ment of  mounted  men  and  bicycle  squads,  sometimes  at- 
tached to  headquarters,  sometimes  to  the  precincts.  In 
larger  cities  an  independent  traffic  squad,  responsible  to 
the  head  of  the  department  or  one  of  his  representatives, 
covers  important  traffic  points.  Detective  work  is  han- 
dled either  by  headquarters  or  the  precincts,  or  both,  or 
by  specially  arranged  detective  districts. 

Such  in  barest  outline  is  the  internal  organization  of  the 
department.  The  charts  included  in  this  book  will,  it 
is  hoped,  convey  a  general  idea  of  local  arrangements, 
for  it  is  impossible  to  cover  the  subject  descriptively 
within  the  limits  of  a  chapter.  It  is  scarcely  less  diffi- 
cult to  examine  the  arrangements  critically.  Their  weak- 
nesses are  so  complex  and  often  so  interwoven  with  fac- 
tors of  personnel  that  the  dissection  is  neither  simple 
nor  easy. 

Generally  speaking,  sound  mechanical  organization 
must  fulfill  three  conditions :  first,  the  relation  between 
supervision  and  work  must  be  well-balanced  ;  second,  the 
different  parts  of  the  mechanism  must  be  adjusted  to  each 

1S9 


American  Police  Systems 

other ;  and  third,  the  whole  machine  must  be  adapted  to  its 
task.  There  are  undoubtedly  other  standards  that  could 
be  applied,  but  none  more  important  than  these.  By 
their  aid  we  are  able  briefly  to  examine  some  of  the  more 
obvious  mechanical  faults  of  our  police  systems. 

Supervision  and  tJic  Police  Force. 

In  the  first  place,  the  relation  between  supervision  and 
the  police  force  is  in  many  cities  poorly  balanced. 
Strangely  enough  this  condition  is  as  often  the  conse- 
quence of  too  much  supervision  as  too  little.  Of  recent 
years,  indeed,  the  frequent  attempts  to  reorganize  the 
departments  have  resulted,  in  not  a  few  cases,  in  the  mere 
addition  of  supervisory  agencies  without  sharp  distinc- 
tions in  function.  Some  departments,  therefore,  give  the 
impression  of  being  overloaded  and  top-heavy.  The 
small,  commission  governed  cities,  with  their  directors  of 
public  safety  and  chiefs  of  police,  are  perhaps  the  best 
illustrations  of  this  condition.  The  forces  are  small  and 
the  responsibilities  in  quiet  communities  are  not  onerous. 
There  is  nothing  that  one  well-equipped  executive  could 
not  adequately  handle.  Yet  in  such  cities  there  are  really 
two  executives,  with  duties  poorly  defined  or  not  defined 
at  all,  both  of  them  under  the  more  or  less  direct  super- 
vision of  a  board.  In  consequence,  as  we  shall  see  in  a 
later  chapter,  one  of  the  executives,  generally  the  chief,  is 
often  crowded  into  comparative  obscurity,  while  the  other 
manages  the  department. 

The  top-heavy  condition  of  police  supervision  can  be 
illustrated  —  perhaps  in  exaggerated  form  —  by  the  situ- 
ation in  Dayton,  Ohio,  in  191 6.     Here  we  had,  in  se- 

190 


The  Organization  of  the  Department 

qnencc  of  authority,  a  commission,  a  city  manager,  a 
director  of  public  safety,  and  a  chief  of  police,  governing 
a  police  force  of  128  men.  To  be  sure,  Dayton  is  an 
industrial  city  of  125,000,  with  a  rather  large  and  con- 
stantly increasing  foreign  population.  The  duties  of  the 
force  are  not,  however,  such  as  make  necessary  an  elab- 
orate scheme  of  supervision.  Indeed,  between  7  a.  m. 
and  3  p.  M.,  in  addition  to  the  traffic  force,  there  were  but 
eight  uniformed  men  on  patrol  to  be  supervised.  Under 
such  an  arrangement,  a  considerable  degree  of  crowding 
in  the  administrative  branch  could  logically  be  looked  for. 
The  city  manager  is  the  general  executive  head  of  all  the 
municipal  machinery,  responsible  for  the  policies  and  ef- 
fective operation  of  the  departments.  But  why  should 
there  be  two  executives  under  him  to  carry  out  his  wishes 
in  regard  to  the  police?  A  study  of  the  situation  in 
Dayton  indicated  that  either  the  office  of  director  of  pub- 
lic safety  or  the  office  of  chief  could  have  been  abolished 
without  detriment  to  the  force.  The  director  was  the 
official  who  really  managed  the  department.  At  the  time 
of  the  investigator's  visit  this  official  with  the  assistance 
of  his  secretary,  who  acted  as  a  sort  of  deputy-director, 
was  making  assignments  of  men  for  a  coming  parade, 
and  was  handling  the  details  of  policing  a  strike  then  in 
progress.  Uniformed  men  and  detectives  came  to  him 
for  orders.  The  duties  of  the  chief,  meanwhile,  seemed 
to  be  confined  to  opening  such  mail  as  was  directed  to 
him,  and  acting  as  a  rubber  stamp  for  his  superior  officer. 
He  had  no  independent  function  whatever,  and  no  as- 
signed function  which  could  not  easily  and  quickly  have 
been  handled  by  the  director.     The  impression  created  by 

191 


American  Police  Systems 

the  situation  was  that  the  office  of  chief  had  been  retained 
out  of  respect  to  convention  rather  than  from  any  dictates 
of  necessity. 

Poorly  balanced  relations  between  supervision  and 
work  show  themselves  with  perhaps  equal  force  in  inade- 
quate administrative  machinery.  There  occurs  no  more 
glaring  illustration  of  this  than  the  Chicago  police  de- 
partment, where  for  years  the  heavy  administrative  bur- 
dens attending  the  management  of  a  force  of  4,500  in  a 
city  exceeding  two  million  population  have  been  given  to 
a  chief  of  police  customarily  promoted  from  the  ranks. 
The  continuously  demoralized  condition  of  the  force  is 
undoubtedly  due  in  no  small  degree  to  the  city's  failure  to 
supplement  the  technically-equipped  uniformed  head  of 
the  department  with  a  trained  executive  of  broad  ad- 
ministrative experience  and  social  outlook.  As  we  shall 
see  in  the  next  chapter,  Chicago  could  profitably  employ 
a  civilian  commissioner  to  whom  the  chief  of  police  would 
be  a  subordinate  officer. 

A  condition  of  under-supervision  of  a  slightly  differ- 
ent variety  is  shown  in  the  Philadelphia  department, 
where  the  civilian  director  of  public  safety,  occasionally 
a  man  of  wide  training  and  genuine  ability,  is  given  too 
many  diverse  functions  to  control.  His  department  em- 
braces not  only  the  bureau  of  police,  but  the  fire  depart- 
ment, the  bureau  of  fire  prevention,  the  bureau  of  build- 
ings, the  inspection  of  electrical  service  and  other  mis- 
cellaneous activities  more  or  less  related.  In  a  smaller 
city  such  an  arrangement  might  not  prove  ineffective; 
that  is,  a  community  of  from  25,000  to  50,000,  or  even 
larger,  might  well  group  a  number  of  functions  or  bureaus 

192 


The  Organization  of  the  Department 

under  the  control  of  a  single  administrator,  without  loss 
of  efficiency.  Thus,  the  association  in  smaller  cities  of 
the  fire  department  with  the  police  department  under  the 
same  supenision  cannot  be  condemned  off-hand  as  a 
faulty  plan.  In  a  city  of  Philadelphia's  size,  however, 
with  its  diversified  population  and  its  complex  social  and 
industrial  organization,  the  function  of  policing  needs  the 
undivided  attention  of  the  best  administrator  obtainable. 
The  director  of  public  safety  at  present  is  so  weighed 
down  by  his  many  administrative  responsibilities  that  he 
cannot  give  the  police  department  the  continuous  thought 
and  oversight  which  its  importance  demands.  Hundreds 
of  papers  and  documents,  relating  to  other  activities  and 
demanding  perusal  or  signature,  cross  his  desk  every  day ; 
intricate  questions  of  public  safety  regarding  the  fire- 
fighting  force  or  the  inspection  of  buildings  consume 
much  of  his  time  and  energy  —  with  the  result  that  there 
is  not  the  close  and  intimate  touch  with  police  affairs  from 
which  alone  successful  management  can  develop.  Under 
the  Blankenburg  administration,  the  director  of  public 
safety,  a  man  of  ideals  and  ability,  was  unable  to  effect 
the  much-needed  reorganization  of  the  detective  bureau, 
solely  because  of  the  pressure  of  other  public  business. 
Admitting  that  it  was  in  critical  shape,  he  was,  to  use  his 
own  words,  "  sheerly  unable  to  get  at  it."  ^ 

This  condition  is  true  not  only  of  Philadelphia,  but  of 
certain  large  commission  governed  cities  where  functions 
have  been  similarly  grouped.  In  Buffalo,  for  example, 
a  city  of  400,000  population,  the  supervision  of  the  di- 
rector of  public  safety  covers  not  only  the  police  depart- 

1  Personally  communicated. 


American  Police  Systems 

ment,  but  the  fire  department  and  the  bureau  of  health. 
Moreover,  by  charter  the  director  is  the  mayor  of  the 
city,  with  the  large  executive  responsibilities  which  the 
post  entails.  Consequently  his  time  is  absorbed  in  other 
duties  to  the  exclusion  of  department  matters.  The 
chances  are  that  the  machinery  for  managing  a  city  of 
50,000  will  be  entirely  unsuited  to  a  city  of  500,000. 
Difficulties  in  government  increase  with  size.  Cedar 
Rapids  may  successfully  place  its  police  and  lire  depart- 
ments, and  other  miscellaneous  functions,  under  the  su- 
pervision of  a  single  director.  In  the  very  nature  of 
things,  Buffalo  cannot. 

The  Adjustment  of  the  Machinery. 

The  second  condition  which  good  organization  must 
fulfill  is  the  harmonious  adjustment  of  its  various  parts. 
The  application  of  this  standard  to  American  police  de- 
partments is  distinctly  discouraging.  As  we  have  seen  in 
a  preceding  chapter,  the  departments  are  the  products  of 
haphazard  growth  —  as  often  the  result  of  expediency 
and  circumstances  as  of  deliberate  counsel  and  plan.  One 
seldom  encounters,  therefore,  any  considerable  degree  of 
orderly  or  systematic  relationship  between  the  various  bu- 
reaus and  divisions. 

This  condition  shows  itself,  for  example,  in  the  man- 
ner in  which  in  many  departments  a  long  line  of  specific 
activities  is  placed  directly  under  the  chief,  instead  of 
being  broken  up  and  grouped  under  subordinate  officials. 
In  Los  Angeles  —  to  pick  out  a  police  department  almost 
at  random  —  a  number  of  small  and  relatively  unim- 
portant branches  of  the  service,  dignified  in  most  cases 

194 


The  Organization  of  the  Department 

by  the  title  of  bureau,  are  appended  to  the  office  of  chief 
of  poHce,  with  the  result  that  the  effectiveness  of  that 
official  as  a  general  supervisor  is  hampered  by  the  petty 
details  with  which  he  is  constantly  confronted.  The 
property  bureau,  the  accounting  bureau,  the  municipal 
farm,  the  printing  and  publishing  bureau,  the  chain-gang, 
the  juvenile  bureau,  the  metropolitan  squad,  the  China- 
town squad,  the  probation  bureau,  and  the  identification 
bureau  are  placed  under  his  direct  and  immediate  con- 
trol. In  other  words,  the  department  is  not  organised  at 
all,  in  the  strict  sense  of  the  word.  Its  parts  are  merely 
strung  together  like  beads.  There  is  no  conception  of 
the  organic  relationship  which  one  function  or  division 
logically  bears  to  another.  The  identification  bureau,  for 
example,  in  any  well-conceived  organization  would  be  a 
branch  of  the  detective  division.  Its  purpose  is  to  estab- 
lish the  identity  of  those  arrested  for  crime,  and  in  ful- 
filling this  mission  it  is  at  once  the  right  arm  and  the 
most  effective  tool  of  the  plain-clothes  service.  No  Eu- 
ropean police  department  has  ever  established  its  bureau 
of  identification  in  any  other  relation  than  as  a  definite 
part  of  the  detective  branch.  Indeed  that  relation  would 
suggest  itself  to  any  one  familiar  with  problems  of  busi- 
ness organization.  Yet  in  Los  Angeles  and  in  a  dozen 
other  cities  the  mere  fact  that  the  identification  bureau  was 
created  subsequent  to  the  detective  bureau  seems  to  jus- 
tify its  independent  existence.  It  is  admitted  on  an  equal 
footing  with  its  fellow-bureaus,  and  in  many  cases  is 
even  assigned  office  space  remote  from  the  detective 
branch  which  it  sen-es.  In  consequence,  through  friction 
or  disuse,  it  falls  short  of  its  possibilities,  while  the  chief 

195 


American  Police  Systems 

of  the  department  is  burdened  with  additional  detail,  the 
nature  or  significance  of  which  he  may  not  be  technically 
equipped  to  comprehend. 

Similarly  in  the  Chicago  department  until  191 2,  the 
telegraph  bureau,  the  ambulance  bureau,  the  detective 
bureau,  the  record  bureau,  the  printing  bureau,  the  bu- 
reau of  identification,  the  matrons,  the  stables,  the  con- 
struction department,  the  dog  pound,  and  the  uniformed 
force  were  all  considered  independent  units,  each  di- 
rectly responsible  to  the  superintendent  of  police.^  Each 
branch  jealously  guarded  its  own  separate  existence  and 
defied  attempts  at  coordination.  In  an  endeavor  to  rem- 
edy this  situation  and  relieve  the  superintendent  of  some 
of  the  burden  of  administration,  the  reorganization  ordi- 
nance of  191 2  -  clumsily  grouped  the  bureaus  under  two 
deputy  superintendents,  with  little  regard  to  similarity  or 
relationship  in  function ;  and  while  the  rearrangement,  on 
paper  at  least,  was  undoubtedly  an  improvement,  it  cannot 
be  said  that  any  substantial  degree  of  coherency  or  co- 
hesiveness  was  achieved.  A  plan  which  placed  under 
a  single  specialized  administrator  such  diverse  activities 
as  the  construction  and  repair  of  police  stations,  the  su- 
pervision of  the  vice  squad,  the  bureau  of  records,  the 
drill  and  inspection  of  the  uniformed  force,  and  the  cen- 
sorship of  moving  pictures,  could  hardly  be  expected  to 
work  harmoniously. 

Faulty  adjustment  of  the  parts  or  branches  of  police 

1  See  report  of  the  committee  on  schools,  fire,  police  and  civil  serv- 
ice of  the  city  council  of  Chicago  on  the  question  of  a  reorganization 
of  the  police  department,  printed  in  the  Journal  of  the  proceedings 
of  the  city  council,  November  25,  1912,  pp.  2,416-2,433. 

2  Ordinance  of  December  30,  1912. 

196 


The  Organization  of  the  Department 

organization  is  shown  not  only  in  these  bad  arrangements 
for  distributing  the  administrative  burden,  but  in  the  op- 
posite practice  of  giving  the  head  of  the  force  incomplete 
oversight  of  the  work  of  his  department.  In  guarding 
against  the  direct  responsibility  which  often  swamps  a 
chief  or  commissioner  with  irrelevant  detail,  the  funda- 
mental necessity  of  ultimate  responsibility  should  not  be 
lost  sight  of.  In  too  many  police  departments  the  nomi- 
nal head  is  entrusted  with  only  part  of  the  oversight, 
while  the  remainder  is  shared  by  other  officials  of  perhaps 
lesser  rank.  This  situation  is  due  as  often  to  circum- 
stances as  to  charter  arrangements.  An  aggressive 
mayor,  perhaps,  eagerly  seizes  the  reins  of  authority; 
the  heads  of  bureaus  or  subdivisions  begin  to  report  di- 
rectly to  him,  and  the  authority  of  the  chief  or  commis- 
sioner is  gradually  reduced  lower  and  lower.  Examples 
of  this  are  frequent.  Perhaps  the  most  illuminating  is 
found  in  the  relations  of  the  uniformed  force  with  the 
detecti\'e  bureau.  Between  these  two  branches  of  the 
sen^ice  the  closest  degree  of  cooperation  should  prevail. 
Experience  both  here  and  abroad  has  repeatedly  shown 
that  without  the  aid  of  the  uniformed  men  substantial  and 
permanent  success  is  impossible  for  the  detective  force. 
The  harmonious  relationship  essential  to  this  cooperation 
is  obviously  the  result  of  common  management.  In  other 
words,  the  chief  of  police,  as  the  head  of  the  force,  should 
be  clothed  with  ultimate  responsibility  for  the  operation 
of  the  detective  bureau.  Yet  in  a  large  number  of  cities 
the  detective  bureau  is  run  as  an  independent  organiza- 
tion, apparently  on  the  theory  that  the  chief  of  police  has 
no  proper  place  in  its  counsels.     In  Pittsburgh,  for  e.\- 

197 


American  Police  Systems 

ample,  the  superintendent  of  police  and  the  chief  of  de- 
tectives are  independent  of  each  other.  They  are  equal 
in  rank,  appointed  practically  by  the  same  authority,^  and 
receive  the  same  salary.  At  the  time  of  the  investiga- 
tor's visit,  friction  and  misunderstanding  marked  the 
relations  between  the  two  bureaus.  The  two  heads  were 
politically  antagonistic,  and  in  consequence  the  depart- 
ment was  divided  into  rival  camps. 

Similarly  in  Cleveland  the  head  of  the  detective  bureau, 
designated  by  the  director  of  public  safety  without  con- 
sultation with  the  chief,  managed  his  specialty  as  an  inde- 
pendent unit.  More  and  more  the  chief  was  relegated  to 
the  background  as  the  responsible  administrator  of  his  de- 
partment. Maladjustments  of  this  kind,  due  to  vague 
conceptions  of  the  meaning  of  organization,  are  obviously 
fatal  to  effective  police  service. 

The  Adaptability  of  the  Machine. 

The  third  characteristic  of  good  organization  to  which 
we  called  attention  is  the  adaptability  of  the  machine  to 
its  work.  It  is  undoubtedly  in  this  respect  that  the  Amer- 
ican police  department  shows  its  greatest  weakness.  As 
the  community's  instrument  for  the  protection  of  life  and 
property  and  the  promotion  of  orderly  relations,  it  seems 
primitive  and  crude.  It  has  developed  without  plan  or 
design,  its  purposes  never  accurately  determined,  often 
vaguely  conceived.  It  has  seldom  been  modeled  from  the 
point  of  view  of  what  it  was  intended  to  accomplish. 

1  According  to  the  ordinance  of  December  28,   1915,  the  chief  of 
detectives  is  "  the  civilian  aide  to  the  director  of  the  department  of  ^ 
pubHc  safety."     This  official  is  appointed  by  the  director  of  publicj 
safety,  who  also  appoints  the  superintendent  of  police. 

198 


The  Organization  of  the  Department 

Little  exact  study  has  been  given,  for  example,  to  the 
relation  between  patrol  duty  and  crime  conditions.  In 
city  after  city  visited  by  the  investigator  no  revision  of 
patrol  posts  has  occurred  in  years,  in  spite  of  constantly 
shifting  populations.  Old  patrol  arrangements  sanctioned 
by  time  and  tradition  are  accepted  without  examination. 
Because  fifty  men  have  been  detailed  by  preceding  ad- 
ministrations to  patrol  a  given  precinct  it  is  assumed  that 
fifty  men  are  necessary  today.  That  an  analysis  of  patrol 
posts,  based  on  present  conditions,  might  show  the  neces- 
sity of  seventy-five  men  or  twenty-five  seems  seldom  to 
occur  to  most  police  administrators.  In  Seattle  the  dis- 
covery was  made  that  twelve  square  blocks  in  the  heart 
of  the  city  had  for  years  been  unpatrolled  by  day  or 
night,  while  seven-eighths  of  the  city  was  without  police 
protection  between  four  a.  m.  and  twelve  noon.^  I  was 
told  by  the  chief  of  the  Salt  Lake  City  department  that 
the  residential  section  of  his  city  never  sees  an  officer 
during  the  365  days  of  the  year,  unless  one  is  specially 
detailed  to  a  particular  case.  In  cities  like  New  York, 
Chicago,  and  Philadelphia  little  attempt  has  been  made 
to  vary  the  methods  of  patrol  to  suit  the  needs  of  different 
neighborhoods.-  Not  infrequently  one  finds  an  Italian 
section  or  a  Russian  Jewish  section  patrolled  exactly  as  it 
was  before  the  influx  of  the  foreign  population.  Patrol 
arrangements   originally   planned    for   the   business   and 

^  Personally  communicated  by  police  officials. 

2  An  examination  in  igi6  by  Commissioner  Woods  showed  that 
precinct  boundary  lines  ran  through  the  middle  of  streets,  with  the 
result  that  such  streets  were  doubly  patrolled  by  officers  of  the  two 
contiguous  precincts.  By  the  simple  expedient  of  running  the 
boundary  lines  to  a  given  street,  instead  of  including  one  side  of  it, 
many  patrolmen  were  released  for  other  work. 

199 


American  Police  Systems 

populous  residential  districts  have  in  many  cases  been 
extended,  theoretically  at  least,  to  the  suburban  districts, 
regardless  of  the  fact  that  the  police  problem  is  here  radi- 
cally different,  while  the  very  size  of  the  territory  to  be 
covered  makes  the  adaptation  utterly  impracticable.  In 
Seattle  at  the  time  of  my  visit  two  patrol  posts  in  the 
suburbs  were  respectively  49}^  miles  long  and  90  miles 
long.  On  each  post  there  were  two  signal  boxes,  at  which 
the  officer  on  beat  had  to  report  hourly,  with  the  result 
that  the  well-marked  path  from  one  box  to  another  con- 
stituted the  extent  of  his  actual  patrol.  In  Denver  at  the 
time  of  my  visit  the  patrol  posts  on  well-lighted  and  busy 
thoroughfares  were  only  two  and  three  blocks  long,  while 
in  the  dimly  lighted  suburbs,  where  by  night  police  pro- 
tection is  especially  needed,  they  were  often  two  miles 
long. 

This  lack  of  careful  study  and  analysis  of  the  task 
which  the  police  are  called  upon  to  do  makes  it  impossible 
to  gauge  the  number  of  men  needed  on  a  force.  The 
matter  is  apt  to  be  judged  by  the  existing  size  of  the  force 
rather  than  by  a  first-hand  survey  of  requirements.  The 
standard  applied  is  simply  traditional  practice.  One  hears 
increases  in  the  force  advocated  on  the  ground  that  "  there 
has  been  no  increase  in  five  years,"  or  that  there  are  seri- 
ous outbreaks  of  crime  in  particular  neighborhoods.  It 
is  entirely  possible  even  under  these  circumstances  that 
the  force  is  too  large  rather  than  too  small.  What  is  at- 
tributed to  inadequacy  of  force  may  be  ascribable  to 
faulty  methods  of  patrol  or  improper  distribution.  The 
fact-basis  for  judgment  is  missing.  In  consequence  there 
are  wide  discrepancies  in  size  between  our  police  depart- 

200 


The  Organization  of  the  Department 

ments,  which  cannot  be  accounted  for  alone  by  divergent 
conditions  of  disorder.  New  Orleans  and  Birmingham 
have  eleven  policemen  of  all  classes  for  each  ten  thousand 
of  population;  Cleveland,  twelve;  ^Milwaukee,  fourteen; 
Boston  and  Philadelphia,  twenty-three;  New  York, 
twenty ;  and  Pittsburgh,  sixteen.  Little  relationship  ap- 
pears to  exist  between  the  size  of  the  police  department 
in  these  cities  and  the  general  character  of  police  work. 
Generally  speaking,  Cleveland,  with  one  officer  to  every 
796  inhabitants,  is  a  better  policed  city  than  Philadelphia, 
with  one  to  every  431  ;  Milwaukee,  w^ith  one  to  every  722, 
is  certainly  better  policed  than  Pittsburgh,  with  one  to 
every  626. 

In  brief,  one  gets  the  impression  in  many  American 
cities  that  police  organization  is  merely  a  conventional 
arrangement,  sanctioned  by  usage  and  tradition,  but  with 
little  relation  to  needs  or  neighborhoods.  It  looks  too 
often  like  an  importation  —  as  if  it  had  been  w'renched 
from  widely  different  surroundings  and  poorly  fitted  to 
its  new  environment.  The  admirable  adaptation  of 
means  to  end,  of  machinery  to  purposes,  which  one  finds 
in  many  European  departments,  is  conspicuously  lacking. 
The  Italian  Carahinicri  use  a  system  of  patrol  adjusted 
to  the  peculiar  crime  conditions  of  Italian  cities.  The 
arrondissements  and  quartiers  of  the  Parisian  organiza- 
tion in  charge  of  commissaires  de  police,  represent  a  suc- 
cessful arrangement  for  handling  the  disorder  and  occa- 
sional turbulence  of  the  French  capital.  The  unique  sys- 
tem of  decentralization  at  Scotland  Yard  is  adapted  to 
the  wide  territory  covered  by  the  metropolitan  police. 

In  American  cities,  on  the  other  hand,  the  extraordi- 

20 1 


American  Police  Systems 

nary  crime  conditions  which  confront  ns  have  stimulated 
little  invention  in  the  way  of  new  and  comprehensive 
police  methods.  With  some  notable  improvements  in 
equipment,  Philadelphia  and  Chicago  are  patrolled  today 
in  much  the  same  fashion  as  they  were  thirty  years  ago. 
Irish  detectives  still  predominate  in  New  York's  detective 
bureau,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  the  prevailing  nationality 
of  the  criminal  is  no  longer  Irish.  The  police  of  Boston, 
Baltimore,  and  San  Francisco  follow  the  same  general 
practices  as  regards  the  use  of  reserves  and  the  publica- 
tion of  alarms  that  were  in  vogue  before  the  influx  of  a 
complex  foreign  population.  To  be  sure,  modern  appli- 
ances have  greatly  improved  the  technique  of  the  depart- 
ments in  such  matters  as  the  identification  of  criminals 
and  the  control  of  traffic,  but  only  occasionally  does  one 
observe  a  thorough-going  adaptation  of  police  methods 
and  organization  arrangements  to  social  or  criminal  con- 
ditions. For  the  most  part  cities  are  content  to  copy  the 
patterns  of  their  neighbors,  regardless  of  fit  or  suitability. 
Indianapolis,  with  a  homogeneous  population  of  265,000, 
is  policed  in  very  much  the  same  fashion  as  Chicago,  with 
a  heterogeneous  population  of  2,500,000.  The  police 
arrangements  of  Trenton  (N.  J.)  and  Bridgeport 
(Conn.)  are  shaped  not  by  local  necessities  but  by  the 
conventional  model  furnished  long  ago  by  New  York. 
Throughout  the  country  there  is  little  evidence  of  system- 
atic plan  or  thought  in  adapting  the  police  department  to 
its  work.  To  the  construction  of  the  police  mechanism  no 
real  creative  intelligence  has  been  devoted. 


202 


The  Organization  of  the  Department 

II 

The  faulty  mechanism  which  we  have  just  been  dis- 
cussing is  the  final  outcome  of  many  causes.  We  have 
space  to  comment  upon  only  a  few  of  them. 

Inelastic  Legal  Restrictions. 

Instead  of  being  free  to  build  their  own  municipal 
structures  on  the  basis  of  their  particular  municipal  re- 
quirements, our  cities  have  been  saddled  by  legislatures 
with  stereotyped  forms  of  organization  ill-fitted  to  local 
conditions,  and  with  methods  of  operation  ill-adapted  to 
local  needs.  In  the  determination  of  the  framework  of 
management  the  authorities  immediately  concerned  have 
had  little  voice.  I  am  here  referring  not  to  the  distinc- 
tion between  state  control  and  local  control  discussed  in 
previous  pages,  but  to  the  legislative  prescriptions  which 
have  rendered  immobile  the  internal  arrangements  of 
municipal  departments.  The  state  legislators  rather  than 
the  local  authorities  have  determined  not  only  the  gen- 
eral form  of  departmental  organization,  but  the  minutest 
details  of  the  administrative  machinery.  One  has  only 
to  look  at  the  charters  or  special  laws  to  realize  how  the 
inventiveness  and  imagination  of  local  executives  in  fram- 
ing administrative  processes  have  been  checked  and 
thwarted,  and  their  opportunities  for  wholesome  experi- 
ment with  municipal  methods  cramped  in  the  straight- 
jacket  of  detailed  legislation  imposed  by  the  state. 

In  the  police  department  this  condition  runs  back  to  an 
early  period.  The  law  of  1857,  creating  a  metropolitan 
police  system   for  New  York,  established  the  complete 

203 


/ 


American  Police  Systems 

administrative  framework  of  the  new  department.  The 
method  of  listing  stolen  property,  the  kind  of  books  that 
should  be  kept,  the  manner  in  which  reports  should  be 
rendered,  the  precise  circumstances  under  which  gambling 
houses  might  be  raided,  the  location  of  the  superintend- 
ent's office,  the  number  of  police  surgeons  —  in  brief,  the 
entire  machinery  of  administration  —  was  prescribed  in 
elaborate  detail.^  This  precedent  was  followed  through- 
out the  country.  In  1866  the  Ohio  legislature  decreed 
that  Cleveland  should  have  "  a  superintendent  of  police, 
a  captain  of  police,  and  one  captain  in  addition  for  each 
50  patrolmen  called  into  service  more  than  the  first  50, 
and  a  sergeant  of  police  to  each  twelve  patrolmen."  ^ 
This  same  ratio,  couched  in  identical  language,  was  em- 
ployed by  the  Michigan  legislature  for  Detroit  in  1867.' 
The  form  of  police  organization  adopted  by  the  Con- 
necticut legislature  for  New  Haven  in  1881  is  typical  of 
limitations  imposed  by  law-making  bodies  the  country 
over.  "  There  shall  be  a  police  department,"  said  the 
law,  "  which  shall  consist  of  one  chief  of  police,  not  more 
than  two  captains,  not  more  than  two  lieutenants,  not 
more  than  three  sergeants  (one  of  whom  shall  act  as  an 
inspector  of  licensed  public  vehicles),  not  more  than  three 
doormen,  and  not  more  than  50  supernumerary  police- 
men." ^ 

Inelastic  restrictions  of  this  kind  still  encumber  the  po- 
lice organizations  of  most  of  the  cities  of  the  United 
States.     In  only  a  few  has  any  appreciable  freedom  of 

1  Laws  of  N.  Y.,  1857,  Chap.  569. 

2  Laws  of  Ohio,  1866,  p.  104. 

3  Laws  of  Mich.,  1867,  No.  312. 

*  Special  Acts  of  Conn.,  1881,  p.  294. 

204 


The  Organization  of  the  Department 

action  been  achieved.  In  New  York  the  rigid  provisions 
of  the  charter  have  for  years  been  a  handicap  to  efficient 
administration.  So  inflexible  is  the  organization  in  this 
city  that  a  former  commissioner  was  obhged  literally  to 
take  the  stump  and  conduct  a  wide  campaign  of  publicity 
in  order  to  induce  the  legislature  to  give  him  the  right  to 
reduce  to  the  rank  of  captain  the  police  inspectors  whom 
he  knew  to  be  notoriously  unfit.  Similar  activity  secured 
for  the  commissioner  the  power  to  appoint  as  first  grade 
detectives  the  men  whom  he  regarded  best  qualified  for 
the  positions.  The  request  of  the  city  administration  in 
191 5  that  it  be  allowed  to  appoint  such  additional  deputy 
commissioners  as  the  executive  burdens  of  the  department 
might  make  necessary  was  denied  by  the  legislature  at 
Albany,  although  after  considerable  delay  and  not  a  little 
opposition  consent  was  given  to  the  appointment  of  one 
additional  deputy. 

Yet  in  respect  to  the  inelasticity  of  its  organization 
New  York  is  by  no  means  in  the  worst  position.  The 
rigidity  of  the  Baltimore  charter  is  even  more  pronounced. 
It  prescribes  the  number  of  oft'icers  in  each  police  district, 
as  well  as  the  number  of  turnkeys  and  telephone  operators. 
There  shall  be  "  two  additional  captains,  one  of  whom 
shall  be  assigned  to  have  charge  of  the  detective  office, 
and  one  ...  to  have  charge  of  the  police  patrol  boats; 
five  additional  lieutenants,  one  of  whom  shall  be  assigned 
to  have  charge  of  the  bureau  of  identification,  one  of 
whom  shall  be  assigned  to  the  said  police  patrol  boats, 
one  of  whom  shall  be  assigned  to  have  charge  of  the  police 
department  horses,  wagons,  motor  vehicles  and  stables, 
one  of  whom  shall  be  superintendent  of  the  police  signal 

20  ^ 


American  Police  Systems 

and  telephone  service,  one  of  whom  shall  be  assigned  to 
night  duty  at  police  headquarters."  ^  Further,  the  meth- 
ods of  appointment,  promotion,  and  dismissal,  the  salaries 
to  be  paid,  and  the  precise  duties  and  powers  of  the  board 
of  police  commissioners  are  set  forth  in  great  detail. 

In  Buffalo  the  recently  adopted  charter  provides  that 
"  the  tours  of  duty  of  sergeants  and  patrolmen  ...  on 
the  streets  or  other  public  places  of  the  city  shall  be 
changed  at  least  once  in  each  calendar  month."  "  It  fur- 
ther specifies  that  "  policemen  while  on  reserve  duty  .  .  . 
shall  not  be  required  to  render  any  service  except  in  the 
case  of  an  emergency,  and  shall  be  free  to  retire  for  sleep 
during  reserve  duty  in  their  station  house. ^  ,  .  .  Mem- 
bers of  the  police  force  shall  not  be  required  to  wear  a 
uniform  when  not  on  actual  patrol  duty."  ^  The  charter 
also  prescribes  the  number  of  platoons  into  which  the 
force  shall  be  divided,  the  hours  of  duty,  and  the  length 
of  leaves  of  absence.  Such  leaves  of  absence  must  begin 
at  six  o'clock  in  the  evening  of  one  day  and  end  at  six 
o'clock  in  the  evening  of  the  following  day.^  The  pro- 
visions governing  the  detail  of  police  management  cover 
twenty-three  pages  of  the  charter,  and  show  throughout 
the  anxiety  of  the  uniformed  men  to  prevent  possible 
encroachments  upon  their  rights  by  their  superiors. 

Similarly  in  San  Francisco  the  administrative  methods 
of  the  department  are  prescribed  at  length,  even  to  the 

1  Charter  of  Baltimore,  Section  745. 
-  Buffalo  Charter,  Sec.  250  A. 

3  Ibid.,  Sec.  250  B. 

4  Ibid.,  Sec.  250  D. 

5  Ibid.,  Sec.  250  D. 

206 


The  Organization  of  the  Department 

point  of  requiring  the  chief  to  keep  in  his  office  "  the 
statutes  of  the  state  and  of  the  United  States  and  all 
necessary  works  on  criminal  law."  ^  According  to  the 
Missouri  law,  the  board  of  police  commissioners  of  St. 
Louis  "  shall  establish  the  Bertillon  system  of  identifica- 
tion of  criminals  and  others  by  means  of  anthropometric 
indications."  -  As  illustrative  of  the  folly  of  a  legislative 
body  assuming  to  determine  administrative  policies  and 
details,  it  may  be  pointed  out  that  at  the  time  this  provi- 
sion was  written  into  the  law  by  the  legislature  of  Mis- 
souri the  Bertillon  system  of  identification  was  being  dis- 
carded in  most  European  police  departments. 

Under  limitations  of  this  kind  rational  development  of 
police  organization  cannot  be  looked  for.  The  machine 
cannot  be  made  to  adjust  itself  to  the  widely  contrasting 
social  and  economic  conditions  found  in  every  city,  while 
the  constant  flux  and  change  in  population  and  racial 
habit  leave  practices  and  methods  soon  out  of  date.  The 
initiative  and  imagination  of  the  average  police  admin- 
istrator are  strangled  at  the  start.  Experimentation  with 
new  ideas  is  practically  impossible.  Innovations  calcu- 
lated to  increase  the  quality  of  the  service  are  barred. 
Ofificial  activity  is  so  curbed  and  hedged  about  that  the 
new  administrator,  with  perhaps  a  genuine  desire  to  serve 
the  public,  soon  finds  himself  little  more  than  a  machine, 
doing  the  things  the  law  tells  him  to  do  in  the  way  the 
law  prescribes.  Under  such  circumstances,  unless  pos- 
sessed of  unusual  force  and  originality,  he  soon  settles 

1  Charter  of  San  Francisco,  Art.  VIII,  Chap.  IV,  Sec.  4- 

2  Laws  of  Mo.,  1899,  p.  51,  Sec.  479. 

207 


American  Police  Systems 

back  into  the  old  rut,  content  to  maintain  his  department 
as  he  inherited  it.  Meanwhile  the  city's  necessities  de- 
velop while  the  police  force  stands  still. 

This  rigid  predetermination  by  statute  of  police  or- 
ganization and  methods  is  in  marked  contrast  to  the  flexi- 
bility of  European  police  legislation.  Police  executives 
in  England  and  on  the  continent  are  given  wide  powers 
in  shaping  their  instruments  of  control  and  in  adapting 
administrative  processes  to  local  conditions.  Instead  of 
the  minute  charter  prescriptions  which  one  finds  in  such 
cities  as  New  York,  Buffalo,  and  Baltimore,  the  statute 
governing  the  municipalities  of  England  and  Wales,  for 
example,  leaves  the  local  authorities  free  to  develop  their 
ow-n  police  departments.  "  The  Watch  Committee,"  ac- 
cording to  the  terse  provision  of  the  law,  "  shall  from 
time  to  time  appoint  a  sufficient  number  of  fit  men  to  be 
borough  constables."  ^  The  special  laws  governing  Lon- 
don's police  force  are  equally  free  of  regulative  detail. 
Sir  Robert  Peel's  act  of  1829  begins  with  this  simple 
declaration:  "A  sufficient  number  of  fit  and  able  men 
shall  from  time  to  time,  by  the  direction  of  one  of  his 
majesty's  principal  secretaries  of  state,  be  appointed  as  a 
police  force."  ^  In  the  words  of  the  act  the  commis- 
sioner of  police,  with  the  approbation  of  the  Home  Secre- 
tary, is  given  power  "  to  frame  such  orders  and  regula- 
tions as  (he)  may  deem  expedient  relative  to  the  gen- 
eral government  of  the  members  of  the  police  force;  the 
places  of  their  residence;  their  classification,  rank,  and 
particular  service ;  their  distribution  and  inspection ;  .  .  . 

1  Municipal  Corporations  Act  of  1882,  Part  IX,  Sec.  191. 

2  10  Geo.  IV.  c.  44. 

208 


The  Organization  of  the  Department 

and  all  such  orders  and  regulations  as  Che)  shall  deem 
expedient  for  preventing  neglect  or  abuse  or  for  render- 
ing such  force  efficient  in  the  discharge  of  all  its  duties; 
and  (he)  may  at  any  time  suspend  or  dismiss  from  em- 
ployment any  man  belonging  to  the  police  force  whom 
(he)  shall  think  remiss  or  negligent  in  the  discharge  of 
his  duty  or  otherwise  unfit  for  the  same."  ^  Apart  from 
the  question  of  pensions  and  financial  support,  where  per- 
missive legislation  would  obviousl)-  be  necessary,  no  at- 
tempt has  been  made  in  the  eighty-eight  years  of  Lon- 
don's police  force  to  determine  by  statute  the  limitations 
of  the  executive  in  the  administration  of  his  department. 
In  England,  as  well  as  in  France  and  Switzerland,  em- 
phasis is  centered  upon  the  character  and  experience  of 
the  police  commissioner.  It  is  assumed  that  a  trained  * 
administrator  will  be  found  and  there  is  no  disposition 
to  hamper  such  an  incumbent  with  restrictions  or  to  erect 
barriers  against  the  possible  abuse  of  his  powers.  The 
development  of  the  organization  and  its  adjustment  to 
shifting  necessities  are  his  responsibility.  Answerable  to 
his  superiors  and  to  the  public  for  the  success  and  pro- 
priety of  his  methods,  he  shapes  his  administrative  tools 
to  the  work  to  be  accomplished,  unimpeded  by  the  arbi- 
trary rules  of  an  uninformed  legislative  body. 

This  point  of  view  is  gaining  some  ground  in  American 
cities.  The  present  law  governing  the  police  force  of 
Boston,  for  example,  while  irritatingly  detailed  in  certain 
sections,  represents  a  substantial  improvement  over  the 
laws  which  it  superseded.     According  to  its  provisions  * 

1  Ibid.  The  act  was  originally  framed  with  two  commissioners  as 
executives.  In  1856  these  powers  were  vested  in  a  single  commis- 
sioner. 

209 


American  Police  Systems 

the  police  commissioner  has  authority  "  to  appoint,  estab- 
hsh,  and  organize  the  poHce  of  the  city,  and  to  make  all 
needful  rules  and  regulations  for  its  efficiency.  .  .  .  He 
may  employ  such  clerks,  stenographers,  and  other  em- 
ployees as  he  may  deem  necessary  for  the  proper  per- 
formance of  the  duties  of  his  office."  ^  So,  too,  in  cer- 
tain states  where  the  doctrine  of  home  rule  has  been 
accepted  in  some  form  or  other  —  notably  in  Ohio  —  the 
temptation  to  establish  by  law  the  administrative  machin- 
ery of  the  police  department  has  been  discouraged,  and 
charters  have  been  framed,  as  in  Cleveland  and  Toledo, 
conferring  wide  discretion  upon  the  police  executives  in 
the  management  of  their  forces.  Home  rule,  however,  is 
not  in  itself  a  remedy  for  the  evil  of  inelastic  administra- 
tive processes  decreed  by  law.  A  charter  framed  by  a 
community  under  grant  of  full  powers  of  local  self-gov- 
ernment may  be  just  as  effective  in  tying  the  hands  of  a 
police  administrator  as  a  charter  framed  by  a  legislature. 
The  same  thing  is  true  of  ordinances  passed  by  local  as- 
semblies. Detailed  prescriptions  as  to  methods  and  prac- 
tices will  create  rigidity  in  any  departmental  machinery, 
and  block  intelligent  efforts  to  make  it  produce  the  best 
results,  no  matter  whether  the  prescriptions  are  framed 
at  the  city  hall  or  in  the  state  capitol.  The  sole  advantage 
of  home  rule  in  this  regard  lies  in  the  fact  that  the  re- 
sponsibility for  bad  machinery  rests  with  the  people  af- 
fected by  its  operation,  and  a  remedy  is  consequently  more 
easily  obtained.  An  executive  whose  effectiveness  is  cir- 
cumscribed by  unnecessary  limitations,  or  thwarted  by 
foolish  mandatory  decrees,  can  free  himself  by  an  appeal 

1  Acts  of  Mass.,  1906,  Chap.  291,  Sees.  8-10. 

210 


The  Organization  of  the  Department 

to  his  community  more  readily  than  he  can  by  appeahng 
to  the  representatives  of  the  entire  state. 

Unnecessary  Functions. 

The  irrational  development  of  American  police  organi- 
zation is  not  ascribable  alone  to  legislative  interference 
with  the  details  of  administration.  Another  causal  fac- 
tor, perhaps  equally  important,  is  found  in  the  willingness 
of  charter-makers  to  complicate  the  police  machinery  by 
the  addition  of  extraneous  and  unrelated  functions.  In- 
stead of  building  an  organization  around  the  single  duty 
of  maintaining  law  and  order  —  a  duty  in  itself  onerous 
enough  —  in  many  states  the  attempt  is  made  to  employ 
the  machinery  for  all  sorts  of  governmental  purposes. 
This  indiscriminate  use  of  the  police  department  is  not 
characteristic  of  America  alone.  It  is  even  more  pro- 
nounced in  continental  Europe,  particularly  in  Germany 
and  Austria.  In  these  countries,  however,  it  has  devel- 
oped not  through  any  haphazard  distribution  of  functions, 
but  rather  from  the  peculiar  continental  conception  of 
police  power  as  comprehending  all  activities  of  govern- 
ment which  have  not  been  directly  transferred  to  other 
branches  of  the  administration.'-  This  conception,  with 
its  historical  basis  in  the  necessities  of  autocratic  gov- 
ernment, never  gained  a  foot-hold  in  Great  Britain,  with 
the  result  that  English  police  machinery  is  singularly  free 
from  complicating  factors.-  Indeed  such  a  conception 
would  find  little  place  in  any  liberal  government.  In 
America  the  tendency  to  load  the  police  force  with  irrele- 

1  See  European  Police  Systems,  pp.  18-24. 

2  Ibid.,  pp.  140-148. 

211 


American  Police  Systems 

vant  functions  is  largely  a  matter  of  careless  and  untidy 
governmental  housekeeping.  The  department  has  been 
made  a  sort  of  catch-all  for  such  miscellaneous  activities 
as  cannot  easily  be  accommodated  elsewhere.  Thus,  the 
police  in  many  American  cities  have  had  given  them  the 
judicial  responsibility  of  issuing  licenses  for  saloons,  res- 
taurants, taverns,  ice-cream  parlors,  masque  balls,  mar- 
kets, and  lodging  houses.  So,  too,  they  license  hawkers, 
peddlers,  junk  gatherers,  employment  house  "  runners," 
newsboys,  boot-blacks,  dog-breeders,  auctioneers,  and 
other  special  professions.  In  New  York  city  the  police 
department  is  charged  with  the  duty  of  inspecting  steam- 
boilers  and  fixing  the  maximum  pressure  allowed  for 
each;  it  also  licenses  and  passes  upon  the  qualifications  of 
steam  engineers.^  In  Chicago  the  department  has  charge 
of  dog-catching  and  the  pound  "  and  the  censorship  of 
moving  pictures ;  ^  in  Baltimore  it  takes  the  yearly  census 
of  school  children;'*  in  Washington,  D.  C,  it  has  charge 
of  the  inspection  of  pharmacies;^  in  Milwaukee  it  col- 
lects arrears  in  personal  taxes;''  in  Detroit  a  member  of 
the  force  performs  the  duties  of  sealer  of  weights  and 
measures,  and  the  commissioner  appoints  the  city  scaven- 
gers;"^ in  Boston  the  commissioner  establishes  rates  of 
interest  for  pawnbrokers,^  and  investigates  the  qualifica- 
tions of  jurors;  ^  in  Philadelphia  the  fire  marshal's  office 

1  New  York  City  Charter,  Chap.  8.  Sees.  342-345. 

2  Chicago  Code  of  Ordinances,  191 1,  Chap.  20,  Sec.  771. 
'^  Chicago  Code  of  Ordinances,  191 1,  Chap.  46. 

*  Laws  of  Md.,  1914,  Chap.  90. 

s  34  U.  S.  Statutes  at  Large,  p.  182. 
^  Wisconsin  Statutes,  Sec.  925-148. 
''  Detroit  Charter.  Sec.  665. 

*  Revised  Laws  of  Mass.,  Chap.  102,  Sec.  41. 
9  Mass.  Stats.,  1907,  Chap.  348. 

212 


The  Organization  of  the  Department 

is  under  the  superintendent  of  police,  who  is  thus  responsi- 
ble for  the  inspection  and  storage  of  combustibles  and  the 
condition  of  fire  escapes  and  exits. ^  For  years  in  New 
York  the  cleaning  of  the  streets  was  under  the  super- 
vision of  the  police  department. 

In  consequence  of  this  confusion  with  irrelevant  ac- 
tivities, the  primary  function  of  the  police  has  often  been 
left  to  drift  along  with  little  guidance  or  oversight  by  the 
administrators.  In  their  endeavors  to  accommodate 
themselves  to  such  judicial  functions  as  issuing  licenses, 
or  to  such  spectacular  functions  as  managing  elections, 
the  commissioners  and  directors  have  neglected  their 
weightier  responsibilities. 

This  confusing  use  of  the  police  machinery,  particu- 
larly for  excise  licenses  and  election  purposes,  has  often 
led  to  sinister  results.  The  wide  powers  thus  conferred 
upon  the  police  force  have  made  it  the  prize  of  every 
municipal  contest.  A  department  for  the  maintenance  of 
order  would  in  itself  be  a  tempting  bait  to  politicians; 
but  when  the  control  of  licenses  and  of  the  election  ma- 
chinery is  added,  the  department  becomes  practically  in- 
dispensable to  the  success  of  a  political  party.  To  this 
unwise  and  unsound  partnership  between  the  police  force 
and  unrelated  functions  of  government  much  of  the  cor- 
ruption and  demoralization  in  American  municipalities 
can  be  traced.  In  New  York,  for  example,  a  law  passed 
in  1872  -  and  maintained  for  29  years  -^  gave  the  police 
commissioners    full    charge   of    the   election    machinery. 

1  Laws  of  Penn.,  191 1,  p.  705. 

2  Laws  of  N.  Y.,  1872,  Chap.  675. 

3  Repealed  by  Laws  of  N.  Y.,  1901,  Chap.  95.  For  an  interest- 
ing review  u£  the  development  of  the  electoral  machinery  in  New 

213 


American  Police  Systems 

Every  important  step  in  the  conduct  of  elections,  both 
prior  to  and  after  the  polling  of  the  vote,  was  under  their 
supervision  and  largely  under  their  control.  They  ap- 
pointed the  inspectors  of  election  and  the  poll  clerks ;  they 
passed  upon  the  certificates  of  nomination  of  candidates; 
they  received  and  were  charged  with  the  custody  of  elec- 
tion returns.  At  the  same  time  their  subordinates,  the 
members  of  the  uniformed  force,  were  assigned  to  main- 
tain order  at  the  polling  places.  The  practical  operation 
of  this  partnership  under  a  board  of  police  commission- 
ers dominated  by  Tammany  influence  is  described  in  the 
following  excerpt  from  the  report  of  the  Lexow  investi- 
gating commission  of  1894: 

"  It  may  be  stated  as  characteristic  of  the  conditions 
shown  to  exist  by  a  cloud  of  witnesses  that  the  police 
conducted  themselves  at  the  several  polling  places  upon 
the  principle  that  they  were  there  not  as  guardians  of 
the  public  peace  to  enforce  law  and  order,  but  for  the 
purpose  of  acting  as  agents  of  Tammany  Hall  in  se- 
curing to  the  candidates  of  that  organization,  by  means 
fair  or  foul,  the  largest  possible  majorities."  ^ 

Conditions  of  the  same  kind  if  not  of  the  same  degree 

York,  see  William  M.  Ivin's  On  the  Electoral  System  of  the  State  of 
New  York  —  a  paper  read  before  the  New  York  State  Bar  Associa- 
tion, January,  igo6,  and  published  in  pamphlet  form. 

1  From  the  majority  report,  pp.  15-16.  In  spite  of  this  condition, 
the  separation  of  the  police  department  and  the  bureau  of  elections 
was  not  recommended  in  the  majority  report,  the  members  of  the 
commission  clinging  to  the  idea  of  a  bi-partisan  board  as  an  effective 
remedy.  Such  a  separation,  however,  was  urged  in  the  minority 
report,  which  at  the  same  time  argued  for  a  single-headed  police 
department  rather  than  a  bi-partisan  board.  With  a  bureau  of  elec- 
tions independent  of  the  police  force,  one  of  the  chief  arguments 
commonly  used  for  a  bi-partisan  board  falls  to  the  ground. 

214 


The  Organization  of  the  Department 

existed  in  other  cities  where  the  election  machinery  was 
part  of  the  police  organization  —  notably  in  Bufifalo. 
Disorder,  fraud,  and  continual  suspicion  followed  the 
wake  of  this  unhappy  partnership.  As  a  result,  the  part- 
nership has  almost  universally  been  dissolved,  and  the  po- 
lice force  has  been  freed  of  a  demoralizing  incumbrance. 
Equally  unhappy  was  the  association  of  the  police  with 
the  issuance  of  liquor  licenses.  The  almost  uniform  re- 
sult was  misunderstanding,  suspicion,  and  the  neglect  by 
the  police  commissioners  of  the  real  function  of  their  de- 
partments. The  question  continually  before  the  public 
was  not :  "  Is  this  department  efficient  in  maintaining 
order  and  preventing  crime?"  but,  "Should  a  saloon 
license  have  been  given  to  this  or  that  neighborhood?  " 
In  consequence  the  real  function  of  the  police,  overlooked 
by  the  public,  was  neglected  by  the  commissioners.  Po- 
lice machinery  cannot  be  complicated  without  losing  in 
effectiveness. 

Inadequate  Leadership. 

Far  more  than  to  any  other  factor  the  irrational  de- 
velopment of  iVmerican  police  organization  is  due  to 
inadequate  leadership.  To  the  lack  of  trained  and  intel- 
ligent administrators,  obtaining  and  holding  office  on 
favorable  conditions,  much  of  the  confusion  and  mal- 
adjustment of  our  police  machinery  is  ascribable.  The 
crude  political  conceptions  which  have  allowed  such  spe- 
cialized community  functions  as  police  and  health  to  be 
managed  by  a  periodically  shifting  body  of  unskilled, 
unfit,  unprofessional  executives,  have  wrought  almost 
irremediable  injury  not  only  to  our  forms  of  organization 

2iq 


American  Police  Systems 

but  to  the  whole  public  life  of  America.  In  so  far  as  the 
police  department  is  concerned,  mechanical  causes  such 
as  we  have  considered  have  undoubtedly  contributed  to 
this  evil  result ;  but  the  fundamental  factor,  underlying  all 
others,  is  one  of  personnel.  This  question  is  so  vital  to 
an  understanding  of  the  American  police  problem  that  the 
two  succeeding  chapters  have  been  devoted  to  its  consid- 
eration. 


12 16 


i 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE    COMMISSIONER    OR    DIRECTOR 

The  task  of  police  administration. —  Police  administrators  pro- 
moted from  the  ranks. —  Chicago. —  Civilian  police  administrators. — 
Their  handicaps. —  Examples. —  Police  administration  and  politics. — 
Limited  tenure  of  office. —  Europe  and  America  in  this  respect. — 
Residence  requirements  for  commissioners. —  European  and  Ameri- 
can examples. —  The  dilemma  and  the  approach  to  its  solution. 

We  have  already  observed  the  trend  toward  single- 
headed  management  in  the  police  department.  The  irre- 
sponsible multiple-headed  executive  is  giving  way  before 
the  demand  for  definitized  leadership,  and  the  civilian 
commissioner  or  director  is  taking  the  place  of  the  board. 
This  change  has  been  brought  about  in  most  cases  wnthout 
disturbing  the  position  of  the  chief  or  superintendent  who 
is  still  the  agent  through  whom  the  department  is  admin- 
istered. Only  in  New  York,  where  the  commissioner  and 
his  deputies  are  directly  in  charge  of  the  force,  has  the 
office  of  chief  been  abolished.  In  many  of  the  smaller 
cities,  as  we  have  already  noted,  particularly  in  those  in 
which  the  board  form  of  control  never  obtained  a  perma- 
nent foothold,  there  is  no  civilian  commissioner  as  an 
intermediary  between  the  chief  and  the  mayor,  and  the 
chief,  as  head  of  the  force,  is  the  responsible  leader. 
Chicago  alone  of  the  larger  cities  still  clings  to  the  small 
city  tvpe  of  administration.  Indeed  Chicago  holds  the 
distinction  of  being  the  largest  city  in  the  world  in  which 

217 


American  Police  Systems 

the  head  of  the  police  department  has  generally  been  pro- 
moted from  the  ranks. 

This  point  suggests  some  interesting  questions  which 
may  well  be  considered  at  the  beginning  of  our  discussion. 
What  would  justify  a  city  in  employing  a  civilian  com- 
missioner? Why  should  not  the  Chicago  arrangement 
be  more  generally  accepted?  Assuming  that  an  officer 
promoted  from  the  ranks  can  manage  successfully  the  po- 
lice affairs  of  a  small  city,  at  what  point  in  the  city's 
growth  is  it  desirable  to  introduce  a  different  type  of  ad- 
ministrator? 

The  Task  of  Police  Administration. 

One  is  helped  to  answer  these  puzzling  questions  by 
a  consideration  of  the  task  of  police  administration  in  a 
large  city.  It  is  far  more  than  a  matter  of  supervising 
the  actual  work  of  men  in  uniform.  It  involves  quali- 
ties of  leadership  which  come  only  from  broad  adminis- 
trative training  and  experience.  The  New  York  De- 
partment costs  $18,000,000  a  year;  the  Chicago  depart- 
ment, $7,000,000;  the  Philadelphia  department,  $4,500,- 
000.  Of  the  63  cities  of  the  United  States  with  a 
population  of  100,000  or  over,  twelve  have  an  annual 
police  cost  exceeding  $1,000,000,  and  in  twenty-five  the 
annual  cost  is  over  $400,000.  The  head  of  a  police  de- 
partment is  thus  the  business  manager  of  a  huge  concern. 
He  must  map  out  its  policies,  define  its  methods,  and  hold 
himself  responsible  for  program  and  performance.  He 
must  be  able  to  organize  the  complex  functions  of  his 
department  into  some  kind  of  coherent  whole.  To  insure 
success,  he  must  be  as  eager  to  keep  abreast  with  his 

218 


The  Commissioner  or  Director 

profession  and  as  alert  to  see  the  possibilities  of  improve- 
ment in  his  force,  as  if  municipal  management  were  a 
competitive  business.  Vision  and  imagination  are  as  es- 
sential to  him  as  they  are  to  any  administrator.  Further- 
more, he  must  possess  the  unimpaired  confidence  of  his 
hundreds  or  thousands  of  men,  and  be  able  to  meet  with 
firmness  and  decision  the  perplexing  situations  which  con- 
stantly arise  in  the  police  affairs  of  every  large  city.  In 
brief,  he  must  be  accustomed  to  Icodiiig. 

Moreover,  the  task  of  police  administration  involves 
the  handling  of  complex  and  intricate  community  prob- 
lems, for  which  a  background  of  social  ideals  and  experi- 
ence is  essential.  The  head  of  a  police  department  is 
called  upon  to  consider  sympathetically,  and  if  possible 
to  reconcile,  the  widely  divergent  points  of  view  of  all 
classes.  He  must  be  able  to  meet  on  their  own  planes 
rich  and  poor,  citizen  and  alien,  learned  and  unlearned. 
Constantly  before  him  must  be  the  conception  of  his  de- 
partment as  an  agency  for  the  prc^'cnfion  of  crime,  and 
the  consequent  relation  of  his  work  to  all  activities,  social, 
economic,  and  educational,  operating  to  that  end.  He 
must  approach  the  problem  of  racial  mixture  in  his  city 
with  a  keen  appreciation  of  the  contrasting  standards  of 
order  and  conduct  which  arise  from  diverse  racial  habits 
and  traditions.  Tact,  intuition,  and  a  quick  intelligence 
are  indispensable  factors  in  his  equipment.  He  must 
be  able  to  gauge  the  drift  in  public  temper,  and  distinguish 
between  substantial  and  fictitious  public  opinion.  He 
must  be  ready  to  adjust  his  organization  and  its  methods 
of  operation  to  changes  in  public  ideas  without  compro- 
mising himself  or  lessening  the  inllucnce  of  his  depart- 

219 


American  Police  Systems 

ment.  Because  his  is  public  business  rather  than  private 
business,  he  must  know  how  to  popularize  it  and  how  to 
rally  public  support  behind  his  leadership  in  times  of 
crisis. 

Police  Administrators  Promoted  from  the  Ranks. 

One  perhaps  would  be  something  of  a  superman  who 
could  fulfill  satisfactorily  all  the  requirements  just  men- 
tioned. They  represent,  however,  standards  to  be  consid- 
ered in  the  choice  of  a  police  administrator.  In  large 
cities  like  New  York  and  Chicago,  and  in  many  cities  of 
lesser  size,  the  task  is  so  great  and  its  responsibilities  so 
heavy  that  the  best  man  obtainable  is  none  too  good,  and 
in  an  endeavor  to  discover  him  no  search  can  be  too  thor- 
ough. That  such  a  leader  can  be  found  in  the  ranks  of 
a  police  force  is  in  the  highest  degree  improbable.  The 
officer  who  has  walked  his  *'  beat  "  as  a  patrolman,  inves- 
tigated crime  as  a  detective,  and  managed  the  technical 
routine  of  station  house  activity  as  lieutenant  or  captain, 
is  not  fitted  by  this  experience  to  administer  the  complex 
affairs  of  a  large  police  department.  The  chances  are 
rather  that  he  is  unfitted  for  the  task.  Lacking  in  admin- 
istrative experience,  with  scant  appreciation  of  the  larger 
possibilities  of  his  position,  often,  indeed,  without  imagi- 
nation or  resourcefulness,  he  has  little  chance  of  success, 
and  it  would  be  unwise  and  cruel  to  saddle  him  with  the 
responsibility.  If  police  management  were  merely  a  mat- 
ter of  assignments,  promotions,  and  discipline,  if  it  had 
to  do  only  with  the  ordering  of  a  well-defined  routine, 
any  capable  man  who  himself  had  been  through  the  mill 
might  be  well  adapted  to  handle  it.     But  as  we  have  seen, 

220 


The  Commissioner  or  Director 

the  task,  particularly  in  large  cities,  is  so  much  broader 
than  routine  and  involves  activities  of  such  vital  conse- 
quence, that  only  a  high  order  of  creative  intelligence  can 
cope  with  it. 

The  idea  that  effective  heads  of  large  police  depart- 
ments cannot  often  be  found  in  the  ranks  is  frowned  upon 
in  some  quarters  as  being  somehow  or  other  "  undemo- 
cratic," and  the  argument  is  occasionally  advanced  that 
this  principle  clashes  with  the  belief  which  we  Americans 
hold  inviolate :  that  humble  and  modest  beginnings  can 
be  no  barrier  to  ultimate  success  and  reward.  This  point 
of  view  completely  misses  the  issue.  Of  course  humble 
beginnings  do  not  disqualify  a  man  for  service;  neither 
do  they  qualify  him.  They  simply  have  no  bearing,  one 
way  or  the  other.  We  are  concerned  with  facts  and  con^ 
ditions  and  not  with  theories  or  labels.  It  is  not  a  matter 
of  democracy  or  lack  of  democracy,  of  caste,  or  birth,  or 
position,  or  anything  else.  //  is  solely  a  matter  of  finding 
the  best  possible  brains  to  handle  a  most  difHeult  public 
task.  "^ 

To  the  failure  to  grasp  the  significance  of  this  point  is 
largely  attributable  the  long  demoralized  condition  of  the 
Chicago  department  —  in  size  the  second  police  force  in 
the  United  States.  In  this  city  the  head  of  the  force  has 
generally  been  promoted  from  the  ranks,  under  an  ar- 
rangement by  which  he  can  return  to  duty  in  his  old  posi- 
tion when  his  services  as  superintendent  are  no  longer 
required.  In  25  years,  eleven  different  men,  only  two  of 
whom  were  chosen  from  outside  the  department,  have 
occupied  the  post  of  superintendent.  Most  of  the  men 
thus  promoted  retired  after  a  disastrous  and  often  inglori- 

221 


American  Police  Systems 

ous  experience,  for  the  reason  that  from  the  very  nature 
of  their  training  they  could  not  measure  up  to  the  task. 
No  opportunity  to  develop  qualities  of  leadership  had  ever 
been  afforded  them.  They  could  not  reorganize  the  de- 
partment, for  they  knew  nothing  about  organization. 
They  could  not  think  in  terms  of  progress  or  possibilities. 
With  two  or  three  exceptions,  they  were  dull  and  ineffec- 
tive. With  little  administrative  experience  to  guide  them 
in  their  new  tasks,  with  no  background  of  general  infor- 
mation, they  carried  out  what  they  conceived  to  be  the 
duties  of  their  position :  meeting  visitors,  handling  per- 
functory routine,  signing  their  names  to  official  docu- 
ments, and  joining  in  an  occasional  spectacular  hunt  for 
a  murderer  or  thief.  In  this  last  activity  they  bore  out 
the  popular  theory  —  often  expressed  in  Chicago  and 
elsewhere  —  that  the  head  of  the  police  force,  whatever 
other  virtues  he  possesses,  must  be  a  "  good,  practical 
thief-catcher."  Thief-catching  is  a  highly  technical  and 
very  important  phase  of  police  work,  and  skilled  men 
should  be  engaged  in  it.  But  the  training  that  creates 
proficiency  in  this  line  is  not  the  training  to  produce  an 
intelligent  administrator.  Little  connection  exists  be- 
tween the  two  activities.  So  far  from  fitting  them  for 
their  new  work,  the  previous  experience  of  the  Chicago 
superintendents  of  police  was  a  positive  handicap.  They 
could  not  get  away  from  the  point  of  view  which  they  had 
acquired  during  their  years  on  the  force.  They  were  still 
police  sergeants  at  heart,  concerned  with  small  precinct 
details,  or  district  detectives  absorbed  in  the  game  of 
catching  thieves. 

222 


The  Commissioner  or  Director 

That  a  high  type  of  intelHgence  is  necessary  in  poHce 
administration  has  long  been  recognized  in  Europe. 
Only  in  the  smaller  cities  is  it  possible  for  an  officer  in  the 
ranks  to  become  head  of  the  force.  In  London,  Paris, 
Marseilles,  Geneva,  Vienna,  Rome,  and  in  scores  of  cities 
of  lesser  importance,  the  head  of  the  department  has 
never  in  history  been  promoted  from  the  ranks. ^  To  be 
sure,  in  some  cities,  particularly  on  the  continent,  this  is 
in  part  ascribable  to  prevailing  class  distinctions  and  so- 
cial cleavages,  as  a  result  of  which  but  few  in  any  walk 
of  life  can  rise  from  humble  to  high  position.  But  fun- 
damentally the  arrangement  is  based  upon  the  conception 
of  the  police  commissioner  as  a  highly  trained  adminis- 
trator. A  man  of  limited  education  and  scant  oppor- 
tunity for  development  is  not  likely  to  be  equipped  to 
handle  large  questions  in  a  large  way,  or  deal  adminis- 
tratively with  the  intricate  business  of  a  complex  depart- 
ment. 

Our  consideration,  of  course,  has  nothing  to  do  with 
chiefs  of  police  promoted  from  the  ranks,  who  serve  under 
civilian  commissioners.  In  such  a  relationship  the  chief 
is  the  head  of  the  technical  service  and  is  not  called  upon 
to  assume  broad  administrative  responsibilities.  A  train- 
ing in  the  ranks  may  exactly  fit  him  for  his  work ;  indeed, 
it  would  be  difficult  for  him  to  obtain  elsewhere  the  neces- 
sary specialized  experience.  Thus  in  Boston  the  uni- 
formed superintendent  of  police,  with  his  intimate  knowl- 
edge of  the  details  of  police  activity,  serves  as  an  aide 
to  the  commissioner,  and  the  arrangement  is  satisfactory 

'•  See  European  Police  Systems.  Chap.  IV. 

22^ 


American  Police  Systems 

because  the  chief  has  no  duties  beyond  the  limit  of  his 
abiHty  or  experience.  Similarly  in  Philadelphia  the  su- 
perintendent of  police  is  the  adviser  of  the  director  of 
public  safety,  and  in  New  York  the  chief  inspector  occu- 
pies the  same  position  in  his  relation  to  the  commissioner. 
The  administrative  machinery  breaks  down  when,  as  in 
Chicago,  the  superintendent  with  his  technical  education 
is  given  a  responsibility  for  which  he  has  never  been 
trained. 

It  is  obviously  unfair  and  indeed  inaccurate  to  assume 
that  a  man  who  has  come  through  the  ranks  is  thereby  un- 
fitted to  serve  as  the  head  of  a  police  department.  In 
small  cities,  where  the  responsibilities  of  administration 
are  not  heavy  and  do  not  call  for  special  gifts,  some  officer 
in  the  force  can  probably  be  found  who,  under  right  con- 
ditions, can  manage  the  department  satisfactorily.  Even 
in  respect  to  large  cities  there  is  no  unvarying  principle 
that  can  be  dogmatically  asserted.  A  police  department 
may  contain  an  officer  of  broad  vision  and  real  adminis- 
trative ability,  well  fitted  to  assume  the  leadership  of  a 
sizeable  department.  The  writer  has  in  mind  several 
such  executives,  competent  to  manage  large  affairs,  who 
worked  their  way  up  from  the  rank  of  patrolmen.  They 
represent,  however,  the  exception :  they  are  men  who 
would  doubtless  have  succeeded  in  any  profession  and  in 
spite  of  any  handicap.  Generally  speaking,  in  most  cities 
exceeding  100,000  in  population  it  would  probably  be  diffi- 
cult to  find  in  the  ranks  of  the  police  force  an  officer  of 
such  education  and  promise  that  the  administration  of 
the  entire  department  could  wisely  be  committed  to  his 
hands. 

224 


The  Commissioner  or  Director 

Chnlian  Police  Administrators. 

It  is  obvious,  therefore,  that  our  poHce  administrators 
must  in  many  cities  be  recruited  from  outside  the  force. 
In  arriving  at  this  conchision  we  are  bound  to  consider 
grave  difficulties  whose  importance  is  not  to  be  under- 
estimated. First  of  all  we  are  confronted  with  the  lack 
of  any  class  of  trained  governmental  executives  such  as 
one  finds  on  the  continent  in  Kurope  and  to  a  certain  ex- 
tent in  England.  In  Great  Britain  the  Royal  Irish  Con- 
stabulary or  the  imperial  administrative  service  furnish 
the  principal  cities  with  their  police  heads.  In  London, 
for  example,  the  commissioner  who  resigned  in  1918'^ 
had  spent  his  life  in  police  work.  Entering  the  Indian 
civil  service  as  an  assistant  magistrate,  he  became  suc- 
cessively inspector  general  of  police  in  Bengal  and  com- 
missioner for  the  entire  southern  district  of  India.  Dur- 
ing the  South  African  War  he  organized  the  civil  police 
of  Johannesburg  and  Pretoria,  and  later  came  to  London 
as  assistant  police  commissioner.  In  1903,  after  thirty 
years  devoted  exclusively  to  the  profession  of  policing, 
he  was  chosen  to  be  head  of  London's  force.  He  was  a 
thoroughly  trained  man;  no  problem  arising  in  connec- 
tion with  his  department  was  beyond  his  grasp. - 

In  America,  on  the  other  hand,  there  is  no  profession  or 
career  of  public  administration  to  attract  the  talent  of 
our  schools  and  universities.  No  opportunity  is  afforded 
to  develop  through  a  course  of  years  any  particular  ability 
to  manage  a  specialized  function  of  government,  such  as 
a  police  department  or  a  department  of  health.     Indeed, 

1  Sir  Edward  Henry. 

2  See  European  Police  Systems,  Chap.  IV. 

225 


American  Police  Systems 

our  political  customs  and  habits  of  thought  run  counter  to 
such  an  arrangement.  American  democracy  has  been 
colored  by  a  distrust  of  special  qualifications  in  public 
office;  it  has  always  regarded  the  expert  in  public  life 
with  suspicion  and  disfavor.  Not  only  does  the  perma- 
nent tenure  of  office  which  his  employment  implies  con- 
flict with  current  ideas  of  popular  control,  but  his  very 
position  in  the  community  clashes  with  the  conception  of 
equality  which  would  give  every  man  a  substantial  op- 
portunity to  take  part  in  the  administration  of  public 
affairs.  As  President  Lowell  points  out/  men  desire 
not  only  to  be  well  governed  but  to  feel  that  they  are 
governing  themselves,  and  the  readiest  way  of  achieving 
this  end  is  to  throw  the  offices  open  to  all  aspirants.  Ro- 
tation in  office  has  been,  and  to  a  certain  extent  still  is,  a 
corollary  of  democracy,  and  its  peculiarly  wide  accept- 
ance in  America  has  effectively  retarded  the  science  of 
public  administration  and  prevented  the  development  of 
a  profession  of  trained  government  executives. 

Moreover,  in  many  parts  of  the  country  little  appreci- 
ation exists  of  the  need  of  specially  trained  men  at  the 
head  of  particular  departments  of  city  or  state  adminis- 
tration. We  seem  to  assume  that  an  appointment  by  a 
governor  or  mayor  confers,  without  apprenticeship,  an 
immediate  capacity  to  manage  public  finances,  direct 
schools,  or  run  a  police  force.  The  practices  of  early 
rural  communities,  where  the  common  experience  of  the 
average  man  enabled  him  to  deal  intelligently  with  the 
plain  questions  that  came  before  the  public  officer,  are 
often  applied  as  standards  to  modern  government,  with 

^Public  Opinion  and  Popular  Government,  New  York,  1913,  p.  271, 

226 


The  Commissioner  or  Director 

the  result  that  in  this  one  field  alone  we  ignore  the  spe- 
cialization of  occupations  which  the  complexity  of  mod- 
ern society  and  the  growth  of  accurate  knowledge  have 
made  necessary.  City  administration  today  is  compli- 
cated by  a  variety  of  public  services,  many  of  them  tech- 
nical in  nature,  dependent  upon  the  results  of  recent  study 
and  research  in  their  particular  fields.  A  high  bacterial 
count  in  the  city's  water  supply  —  to  use  the  words  of  a 
former  director  of  public  works  in  Philadelphia  —  pre- 
sents a  problem  incapable  of  solution  by  the  political 
office-holder,  even  though  he  can  carry  every  precinct  in 
his  ward.  Such  problems  as  the  treatment  of  crime,  the 
relation  of  a  community  to  pauperism,  the  handling  of 
mendicants,  the  responsibility  of  the  criminal  in  the  light 
of  modern  psychiatry,  are  matters  with  which  even  the 
intelligent  citizen  has  little  acquaintance.  They  can  be 
mastered  only  by  special  study  or  long  experience,  and 
they  can  be  dealt  with  efficiently  only  by  those  who  have 
mastered  them.^  It  is  idle,  therefore,  to  assume  that  a 
successful  engineer  or  lawyer  is  preeminently  fitted  to 
manage  a  police  department  or  a  department  of  correc- 
tion. In  the  pursuit  of  his  ordinary  vocation  he  has 
probably  had  no  opportunity  to  familiarize  himself  with 
even  the  rudiments  of  his  new  profession,  and  only  by 
hard,  conscientious  study,  through  an  uninterrupted 
tenure  of  office,  can  he  bring  himself  abreast  of  his  work. 
A  city,  therefore,  honestly  seeking  an  efficient  police 
administrator,  has  a  narrow  field  of  choice.  New  York 
City  in  nineteen  years  has  experimented  with  army  offi- 
cers,   lawyers,    newspaper   men,    and   professional    poli- 

1  Ibid.     See  Chap.  XVIII  on  "  Experts  in  Municipal  Government." 

22y 


American  Police  Systems 

ticians.  Of  twelve  commissioners  only  six  had  had  any 
previous  experience  with  police  work,  and  even  this  ex- 
perience was  of  a  limited  nature.  In  two  cases  the  com- 
missioners, prior  to  appointment,  had  never  even  been 
inside  a  police  station.  In  four  cases  they  were  without 
administrative  training  of  any  sort.  In  more  than  half 
the  cases,  they  took  up  the  task  of  managing  the  second 
largest  police  force  in  the  world  without  the  slightest  com- 
prehension of  its  meaning,  its  technique,  or  its  vast  re- 
sponsibilities. 

Similarly  the  directors  of  public  safety  in  Philadel- 
phia in  the  last  30  odd  years  have  been  for  the  most  part 
untrained  and  without  experience,  coming  from  occupa- 
tions which  in  no  way  fitted  them  for  their  new  tasks. 
One  was  a  candy  manufacturer,  one  an  insurance  broker, 
one  a  banker,  one  a  solicitor  for  an  electric  light  company, 
and  five  were  lawyers.  Detroit  in  nineteen  years  has  had 
in  the  police  commissionership  two  bankers,  one  of  whom 
was  indicted  and  convicted  while  in  ofiice,  a  furniture 
dealer,  a  judge  of  the  police  court,  a  lawyer,  a  manufac- 
turer, an  automobile  sales  agent  (the  last  named  having 
been  the  campaign  manager  of  the  mayor  who  appointed 
him),  a  manufacturer,  and  a  physician.  Pittsburgh  in 
twenty  years  has  had  in  the  directorship  of  public  safety 
a  clerk,  a  traction  company  official,  a  weather-bureau  ob- 
server, a  real  estate  man,  a  small  hotel  proprietor,  a  news- 
paper man,  a  hardware  manufacturer,  and  a  lawyer. 
Cleveland  in  recent  years  has  had  as  directors  of  pub- 
lic safetv  a  clergyman,  a  representative  of  a  roofing 
business,  two  attorneys  and  a  jeweler.  In  Chicago,  as 
we  have  seen,  the  superintendent  of  police  is  customarily 

228 


The  Commissioner  or  Director 

promoted  from  the  ranks.  The  eight  exceptions  to  this 
rule,  occurring  in  49  years,  have  comprised  a  stock-yard 
commissioner,  a  whiskey  distiller,  a  l)re\ver,  a  profes- 
sional politician,  a  prison  warden,  a  hay  and  feed  mer- 
chant, two  post  office  officials,  one  of  whom  was  also  an 
officer  in  the  National  Guard.  In  Salt  Lake  City,  where 
the  head  of  the  force  ^  is  always  a  civilian,  six  more 
recent  incumbents  ha\'e  been  respecti\ely  a  plumber,  a 
merchant,  an  insurance  broker,  a  stage  coach  operator,  a 
livery  keeper,  and  a  traveling  man  for  a  tea  and  coffee 
house.  At  the  time  of  my  visit  the  head  of  the  force  was 
by  vocation  a  fire  insurance  adjuster.  Similarly  Los 
Angeles  has  had  newspaper  men,  a  railroad  man,  an  in- 
surance broker,  and  a  man  engaged  in  the  transfer  and 
express  business.  The  head  of  the  force  in  San  Fran- 
cisco a  few  years  ago  was  a  laundryman.^ 

Investigation  in  other  cities  shows  similar  conditions. 
In  the  absence  of  trained  men,  appointing  authorities  are 
forced  to  make  shift  with  the  material  they  can  get,  with 
results  often  unfortunate,  not  infrequently  disastrous. 
Such  results  must  inevitably  be  expected  when  untrained, 
inexperienced  men  are  placed  in  a  position  where  training 
and  experience  —  or  at  least  the  opportunity  to  develop 
them  —  are  essential.  In  many  cases,  indeed,  the  ques- 
tion is  not  whether  the  new  man  will  fail,  but  how  quick 
and  complete  his  failure  will  be.  Occasionally,  of  course, 
in  spite  of  a  lack  of  special  training,  the  results  are  highly 

iHis  title  is  chief. 

2  New  Orleans  at  one  time  attempted  to  shut  the  door  on  some 
professions.  According  to  a  statute  passed  in  1904  "  iid  attorney  at 
law  or  person  engaged  in  the  liquor  business"  was  eligible  as  police 
commissioner.     (Laws  of  La.,  1904,  No.  32.) 

229 


American  Police  Systems 

creditable.  Mr.  Pullman's  administration  in  Washing- 
ton, D.  C,  for  example,  was  marked  with  ability  and  pro- 
gressiveness  of  an  unusual  kind.  A  clean  cut  young 
newspaper  correspondent,  he  brought  to  his  task  a  vigor 
and  a  personality  that  reshaped  the  Washington  force 
into  an  effective  instrument.  Similarly,  Commissioner 
O'Aleara  of  Boston,  coming  from  a  long  experience  in 
newspaper  management  which  involved  wide  executive 
responsibilities,  gave  his  city  one  of  the  cleanest  police 
administrations  in  the  United  States.  In  the  same  breath 
it  must  be  admitted  that  his  success  was  in  no  small  meas- 
ure attributable  to  his  uninterrupted  tenure  of  service.  In 
the  twelve  years  of  his  commissionership  he  had  the 
unique  opportunity  of  making  himself,  by  dint  of  long 
and  patient  study,  an  efficient  police  executive.  In  New 
York  the  work  of  Commissioner  Woods  was  little  short 
of  brilliant  and  its  effect  has  been  felt  throughout  the 
country.  In  his  case,  however,  success  was  certainly  at- 
tributable, in  some  part  at  least,  not  only  to  his  previous 
experience  as  deputy  commissioner,  which  gave  him  a 
broad  grasp  of  the  problem,  but  to  the  complete  lack  of 
interference  from  the  city  hall.  If  some  of  his  prede- 
cessors had  been  afforded  the  same  independence,  it  is 
possible  that  long  before  the  department  might  have  en- 
joyed the  distinction  it  reached  under  Commissioner 
Woods. 

Such  instances  are  exceptional.  They  stand  out  in 
sharp  relief  against  the  poor  quality  of  leadership  which 
one  finds  in  most  police  organizations.  The  absence  of 
administrative  experience  and  special  training  and  the 
lack  of   facilities   for  their  development  have  made  the 

230 


The  Commissioner  or  Director 

task  of  building  up  our  police  departments  an  exceedingly 
difficult  one. 

Police  Administration  and  Politics. 

The  situation  is  complicated  by  another  factor  of  more 
ominous  significance.  Police  administration  in  the 
United  States  is  a  matter  of  politics.  It  is  organized  on 
the  basis  not  of  individual  fitness,  but  of  political  faith. 
It  is  part  of  the  sordid  system  of  jobs  and  spoils  which 
so  notoriously  distinguishes  much  of  our  local  govern- 
ment. It  depends  upon  periodic  elections,  decided  in 
most  cases  upon  issues  with  which  it  is  not  even  remotely 
associated.  Although  an  expert  service,  whose  efficiency 
is  predicated  on  special  ability  and  continuity  of  manage- 
ment, it  is  tossed  about  from  one  party  to  another  as  the 
prize  of  success  at  the  polls.  A  Republican  victory  in 
Philadelphia  means  a  Republican  director  of  public  safety, 
just  as  a  Tammany  victory  in  New  York  means  a  Tam- 
many commissioner  of  police.  Indeed  in  many  parts 
of  the  country  there  is  as  yet  no  conception  that  politics 
and  administration  are  separable.  Such  a  view  is 
thought  to  be  somehow  undemocratic.  The  policy-de- 
termining function  of  government,  controlled  in  a  de- 
mocracy by  popular  will,  is  confused  with  the  technical 
business  procedure  by  which  the  policies  are  put  into 
effect;  and  because  the  opinions  of  one  set  of  officials  are 
subject  to  popular  review,  it  is  held  that,  indirectly  at 
least,  the  other  set  must  pass  the  same  test.  In  conse- 
quence, the  administrative  officers  of  specialized  depart- 
ments are  selected  primarily  on  the  basis  of  party  alle- 

231 


American  Police  Systems 

giance  and  political  creed,  and  only  secondarily  because 
of  particular  training  and  ability. 

With  a  few  exceptions,  therefore,  political  consider- 
ations constitute  the  dominant  factor  in  the  management 
of  the  police  forces  of  the  United  States.  It  is  unneces- 
sary to  dwell  upon  the  demoralization  which  this  situ- 
ation produces  or  to  attempt  to  catalogue  in  different 
cities  its  forms  and  ramifications.  Essentially  it  is  the 
same  everywhere :  the  head  of  the  department  appointed 
because  he  is  a  Democrat  or  a  Republican  or  "  a  personal 
friend  of  the  mayor  " ;  transfers  and  details  made  at  the 
behest  of  some  district  boss  or  overlord ;  the  force  admin- 
istered with  an  eye  to  the  next  election,  and  its  work 
dictated  by  the  political  necessities  of  the  moment.  This 
is  the  dreary  picture  that  one  sees  in  all  parts  of  the  coun- 
try and  under  all  types  of  police  management.  Of  the 
sixty-three  cities  in  the  United  States  exceeding  100,000 
population,  one  can  count  on  the  fingers  of  both  hands  the 
number  in  which  the  police  departments  are  administered 
on  a  genuinely  non-political  basis ;  and  even  in  these  cases 
there  is  no  guarantee  of  permanence  in  the  situation.  In 
many  places  the  presence  of  politics  in  the  administrative 
service  is  admitted  frankly  and  accepted  with  resignation. 
"  You  cannot  divorce  politics  and  the  police,"  I  was  told 
in  Kansas  City,  "  at  least  not  until  the  millennium." 

This  condition  is  all  the  more  distressing  when  one  ex- 
amines the  operations  of  European  police  departments. 
In  London,  Paris,  Rome,  Berlin,  Vienna  —  indeed  in  all 
the  larger  cities  —  politics  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  ad- 
ministration of  the  police  force,  directly  or  indirectly.^ 

^  See  European  Police  Systems,  Chap.  II. 

232 


The  Commissioner  or  Director 

The  political  opinions  of  the  head  of  the  department  and 
his  assistants  are  as  irrelevant  and  immaterial  as  their 
opinions  on  art  or  literature.  The  outcome  of  a  popu- 
lar election  has  little  or  no  relation  to  police  administra- 
tion. In  other  words,  the  policy  and  discipline  of  the 
force  cannot  be  upset  as  an  incidental  consequence  of  the 
determination  of  political  issues,  with  the  result  that  the 
force  is  never  the  spoils  of  a  political  party  nor  the  tool 
of  a  particular  politician.  The  police  departments  of 
cities  like  Glasgow,  Geneva,  Liverpool,  and  Marseilles 
show  no  trace  of  the  sordid  politics  which  at  the  time  of 
my  visit  frankly  dominated  the  departments  of  Atlanta, 
Pittsburgh,  Indianapolis,  and  Omaha.  European  super- 
iority in  this  regard  is  not.  as  might  easily  be  believed, 
the  direct  consequence  of  autocratic  principles,  for  these 
conditions  exist  in  such  thoroughgoing  democracies  as 
England  and  Switzerland.  It  results  from  the  fact  that 
the  technical  administration  of  specialized  departments  is 
sharply  distinguished  from  questions  of  public  policy  giv- 
ing rise  to  legitimate  political  issues.  When  a  man  is 
wanted  to  head  the  London  Metropolitan  police  force  the 
sole  test  is  the  test  of  fitness,  and  the  one  aim  of  the  ap- 
pointing authorities  is  to  obtain  for  the  position  the  best 
mind  that  training  and  experience  can  produce.  When 
such  a  man  is  found  the  authorities  cling  to  him  as  any 
business  concern  would  cling  to  an  indispensable  employee. 
Similarly  in  Manchester  or  Birmingham  or  in  Leipzig  or 
Stuttgart  the  personnel  of  the  municipal  council  or  of  the 
Gemeinderat  may  shift  a  dozen  times  on  ever  changing 
issues,  without  in  any  way  affecting  the  head  of  the  po- 
lice department.     He  represents  the  expert  administrative 


American  Police  Systems 

arm  of  government,  and,  while  subject  to  the  control  and 
supervision  of  some  council  or  superior  body,  he  is  not 
concerned  with  the  character  of  its  membership  or  with 
the  political  issues  which  divide  it.  His  position  is  that 
of  a  highly  trained  administrative  manager  serving  under 
a  board  of  directors:  the  personnel  of  the  board  may 
change  and  its  policies  may  be  altered;  but  the  manager 
remains  because  the  business  cannot  afford  to  let  him  go. 
Under  all  types  of  government  this  cardinal  principle 
of  efficient  administration  remains  the  same.  The  pol- 
icy-determining functions  may  be  in  the  hands  of  a  few 
as  in  Germany,  or  may  be  vested  with  the  people  as  in 
England.  Whatever  the  method  by  which  public  courses 
of  action  are  decided,  expert  administrative  service  is  the 
best  tool  for  maintaining  an  efficient  government,  and  in 
Europe  it  is  employed  alike  by  democracy  and  autocracy. 

Limited  Tenure  of  Office. 

The  intrusion  of  politics  in  American  police  adminis- 
tration brings  with  it  an  evil  to  which  passing  reference 
has  already  been  made.  It  renders  brief  and  uncertain 
the  tenure  of  office  of  the  commissioner.  Indeed  the 
transient  character  of  its  leadership  is  perhaps  the  most 
amazing  feature  of  the  American  municipal  department. 
The  business  managers  of  specialized  city  functions  come 
and  go  in  quick  succession,  their  official  life  dependent 
upon  political  exigencies  or  personal  whims.  In  some 
cases  they  follow  one  another  with  such  bewildering  ra- 
pidity that  even  departmental  subordinates  find  it  difficult 
to  recall  the  names  of  the  men  under  whom  they  have 
served  in  a  dozen  years. 

234 


The  Commissioner  or  Director 

In  consequence  there  is  little  opportunity  to  train  heads 
of  departments  to  even  a  moderate  understanding  of  their 
tasks  and  responsibilities.  Without  previous  experience 
and  with  no  preparation  of  any  kind,  a  citizen  takes  up 
the  administration  of  a  large  police  force  or  a  bureau  of 
health;  before  he  has  had  time  to  discover  what  his  posi- 
tion really  involves  or  to  delve  deeply  into  the  intricacies 
of  his  organization,  his  official  career  is  at  an  end,  and 
another  man,  equally  untried  and  inexperienced,  begins  at 
the  point  where  his  many  predecessors  began.  Or  again, 
a  man  serves  long  enough  as  head  of  a  department  to 
make  himself  fairly  effective  as  its  administrator,  but 
through  some  political  shift,  generally  irrelevant  to  any 
matter  related  to  his  work,  his  career  is  cut  off,  and  his 
experience  and  training,  gained  at  public  cost,  are  lost  to 
the  community.  Thereupon,  experiment  is  made  with 
another  untried  man,  who,  perhaps  finally  trained  to  the 
point  of  usefulness,  is  dismissed  like  his  predecessor  to 
make  way  for  another  beginner.  In  this  way  the  dreary 
succession  goes  on,  year  after  year,  with  little  thought  of 
health  administration  or  police  administration  as  a  dis- 
tinct career  or  profession,  entirely  removed  from  the  po- 
litical arena,  and  wdth  just  as  little  thought  of  the  loss  in 
consequence  to  public  health  and  security. 

The  police  department  is  peculiarly  the  victim  of  this 
principle  of  transient  management.  "  Most  of  the  com- 
missioners are  birds  of  passage,"  said  Commissioner 
Woods  of  New  York,  in  testifying  before  an  investigating 
committee.  "  The  force  gets  a  glimpse  of  them  tlying 
over,  but  hardly  has  time  to  determine  their  species."  ^ 

1  Curraii  Alderinanic  Committee  Report,  191^,  P-  31-7. 

^35 


American  Police  Systems 

This  statement  is  readily  borne  out  by  the  facts. 
Whereas  London  has  had  seven  pohce  commissioners  in 
91  years,  New  York  has  had  twelve  in  nineteen  years. 
The  average  term  of  London's  police  commissioner  is 
nearly  fifteen  years,^  although  Sir  Richard  Mayne,  the 
first  commissioner,  served  39  years  and  his  successor  sev- 
enteen years,  while  the  last  incumbent,  Sir  Edward  Henry, 
served  a  little  over  fifteen  years. ^  The  average  term  of 
New  York's  police  commissioner  is  one  year,  seven 
months;  the  longest  that  any  one  succeeded  in  serving 
being  three  years,  nine  months.  Three  of  New  York's 
twelve  commissioners  served  less  than  six  months  each; 
one  incumbent  served  only  23  days.  A  change  in  the 
commissionership  in  New  York  has  always  involved  a 
change  in  the  deputy  commissioners,  with  the  result  that 
where  London  has  had  fourteen  deputy  commissioners  in 
sixty-four  years, ^  New  York  City  has  had  43  in  nineteen 
years. ^ 

Comparisons  of  this  kind  could  be  indefinitely  extended. 
It  is  not  at  all  unusual,  for  example,  to  find  in  Great 
Britain  or  on  the  continent  heads  of  police  departments 
who  have  served  from  fifteen  to  twenty-five  years  or 
longer.  The  chief  constable  of  Glasgow,  Scotland,  has 
held  his  position  for  eighteen  years;  the  chief  constables 
of  Birmingham  and  Manchester  have  served  sixteen  and 

1  The  present  commissioner  started  his  term  in  1918. 

-  See  European  Police  Systems,  Chap.  IV. 

^  The  position  of  deputy  or  assistant  commissioner  was  not  estab- 
lished in  London  until  1856,  when  there  were  two  assistant  commis- 
sioners;  in  1890  provision  was  made  for  three  assistant  commission- 
ers and  in  1910  the  number  was  increased  to  four. 

*  There  were  four  deputies  from  1901  to  1915  when  the  number 
was  increased  to  five. 

236 


The  Commissioner  or  Director 

nineteen  years  respectively.  Tlic  police  president  of 
Plamburg,  Germany,  held  his  office  for  more  than  seven- 
teen years;  Vienna's  police  president,  for  more  than  ten 
years.  The  police  president  of  Berlin  had  served  eight 
years,  when  the  exigencies  of  the  war  transferred  him 
to  another  post.  Copenhagen's  commissioner  recently 
rounded  out  28  years  of  service.  Indeed  a  short  term  of 
office  for  European  police  commissioners  is  the  exception 
rather  than  the  rule.  It  is  assumed  that  they  will  hold 
office  as  long  as  they  can  render  efhcient  service,  or  at 
least  until  their  conduct  proves  unsatisfactory  to  their 
superiors.^ 

Radically  different  is  the  situation  of  America.  Phila- 
delphia has  had  thirteen  directors  of  public  safety  in  t,;^ 
years,  an  average  of  two  years  and  a  half  for  each  in- 
cumbent; Cincinnati,  four  directors  in  seven  years  ;  Cleve- 
land, five  in  twelve  years.  Twenty-five  superintendents 
of  police  have  served  Chicago  in  49  years,  an  average 
term  of  less  than  two  years;  in  the  last  twenty  years  there 
have  been  nine  superintendents,  every  incoming  adminis- 
tration making  at  least  one  change.  Detroit  has  had  nine 
police  commissioners  in  nineteen  years.  Many  of  the 
commission  governments,  recently  inaugurated,  are  in  a 
fair  way  to  break  all  records  in  the  number  of  their 
police  administrators. 

When  one  turns  to  the  boards  of  police  commission- 
ers the  succession  becomes  more  rapid  and  the  figures 
mount  appreciably.  In  St.  Louis  48  different  commis- 
sioners have  managed  the  police  force  in  the  last  31  years. 
In  other  words,  the  task  of  administering  this  technical 

1  See  European  Police  Systems,  Chap.  IV. 


American  Police  Systems 

branch  of  the  city  government  has  been  committed  to  48 
men,  inexperienced  in  poHce  work,  many  of  whom  served 
but  a  year  or  two.  Newark  had  36  pohce  commissioners 
in  32  years;  San  Francisco  41  in  twenty  years;  Baltimore 
50  in  60  years.  In  the  forty- four  years  from  1857  to 
1901  when  New  York's  police  force  was  under  the  control 
of  a  board,  52  different  men  were  charged  with  the  re- 
sponsibility of  management.  During  the  last  twenty 
years  of  this  period  25  commissioners  were  in  office. 

The  transient  character  of  American  police  administra- 
tion is  not  attributable  alone  to  the  sordid  play  of  politics. 
Long  tenures  of  office  are  repugnant  to  our  political  tra- 
ditions. The  fears  and  prejudices  engendered  in  the 
early  beginnings  of  our  democracy  remain  a  determining 
influence  in  our  approach  to  questions  of  government  or- 
ganization. We  have  inherited  a  dread  of  "  a  class  privi- 
leged to  rule,"  and  rotation  rather  than  permanence  in 
office  has  been  our  shield  against  the  intrusion  of  "  autoc- 
racy." Indeed  the  antipathy,  fostered  by  our  frontier 
conditions  of  life,  to  anything  deemed  aristocratic  has 
given  a  strongly  marked  tone  to  our  conception  of  popu- 
lar government.  Our  attitude  toward  our  representatives 
in  office  is  one  of  continual  suspicion.  Constant  fear  of 
removal,  and  limited  terms  have  been  the  weapons  by 
which  we  have  endeavored  to  keep  them  in  touch  with 
public  opinion.  As  President  Lowell  aptly  says,  the 
American  citizen  is  far  less  attracted  by  the  idea  of  ex- 
perienced public  servants  who  retain  their  positions  so 
long  as  they  are  faithful  and  efficient,  than  he  is  repelled 
by  the  dread  of  bureaucracy.^ 

1  Loc.  cit.,  p.  106. 

238 


The  Commissioner  or  Director 

This  point  of  view  is  shown  in  all  our  legislation,  na- 
tional, state  and  municipal,  relating  to  public  officers. 
Their  terms  of  service  are,  with  few  exceptions,  strictly 
limited  and  defined,  as  if  in  no  other  fashion  could  they 
be  made  amenable  to  public  opinion,  or  responsive  to 
popular  control.  To  this  practice  the  police  administrator 
is  no  exception.  In  all  our  cities  the  law  specifically  im- 
plies that  he  is  a  temporary  officer.  His  term  ranges 
from  two  years  in  municipalities  like  Albany  and  Syra- 
cuse to  five  years  in  New  York  and  Boston.  Of  the 
larger  cities  of  the  United  States,  twelve  have  two  year 
terms  for  their  police  administrators;  seven  have  three 
year  terms;  sixteen  have  four  year  terms;  and  three  have 
five  year  terms. ^  In  some  cities,  notably  those  in  Ohio, 
the  police  executive  serves  "  at  the  pleasure  of  the 
mayor,"  -  apparently  on  the  assumption  that  his  position 
is  semi-political  in  character  and  that  every  mayor  should 
have  the  right  to  appoint  "  his  own  man."  The  same 
point  of  view  is  implied  in  the  statutes  governing  the 
cities  of  Pennsylvania,  where  the  tenure  of  the  director  of 
public  safety  is  made  coincident  with  the  term  "  for  which 
the  appointing  mayor  is  elected."  ^  Some  cities  have  at- 
tempted to  avoid  the  implication  of  such  an  arrangement 
by  giving  the  police  administrator  a  longer  term  than  that 
of  the  ofticer  who  appoints  him.  Thus  the  police  com- 
missioner of  Boston  has  a  five  year  term,  while  the  gov- 
ernor of  Massachusetts  serves  for  two  years.     Similarly, 

^  These  figures  include  boards  of  commissioners  as  well  as  single- 
headed  management. 

-  See  Cleveland  City  Charter,  Sec.  80,  and  Columbus  Charter, 
Sec.  60. 

^  See  Philadelphia  Charter,  1919,  Art.  V,  Sec.  I,  and  Pittsburgh 
Charter,  Art.  XII. 

-239 


American  Police  Systems 

the  term  of  the  mayor  of  New  York  is  four  years,  while 
his  pohce  commissioner  serves  five  years.  Again  in  De- 
troit, until  recently,  the  mayor  was  elected  for  two  years 
and  the  police  commissioner  appointed  for  four.  How- 
ever, in  the  absence  of  any  restrictions  on  the  appointing 
officer  in  removing  an  incumbent,  this  expedient  has  no 
practical  value  whatsoever.  It  is  merely  a  bit  of  legis- 
lative jugglery.  Every  incoming  mayor  of  New  York 
has  always  appointed  his  own  police  commissioner,  just  as 
every  incoming  governor  of  Massachusetts,  could,  if  he 
chose,  appoint  a  new  head  of  the  police  force  in  Boston.^ 
The  same  result  is  reached  in  Chicago,  which  is  the  only 
large  city  whose  charter  contains  no  specific  provision 
regarding  the  tenure  of  the  police  head.  For  all  practi- 
cal purposes  it  is  coincident  with  that  of  the  mayor. 

This  custom  of  pacing  off  in  advance  the  term  of  a 
police  administrator  and  writing  it  into  the  law  is  in  direct 
contrast  to  the  arrangement  in  European  cities.  There 
the  police  commissionership  is  always  indefinite  in  tenure. 
In  not  a  single  English  or  continental  city  of  size  or  im- 
portance is  the  head  of  the  police  force  appointed  for  a 
fixed  period.-  In  fact,  the  idea  of  establishing  by  some 
arbitrary  rule  the  time  when  the  administration  of  a  po- 
lice commissioner  shall  come  to  an  end  seems  never  to 
have  occurred  to  European  authorities.     As  we  have  seen, 

^  The  governor  has  the  right  to  remove  the  police  commissioner 
with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  council,  "  for  such  cause  as  he 
shall  deem  sufficient.  Such  cause  shall  be  stated  in  his  order  of 
removal."  Acts  of  Mass.,  1906,  Chap.  291,  Sec.  7.  In  New  York 
City  the  police  commissioner  is  removable  bj'  the  mayor  whenever 
"  the  public  interests  shall  so  require."  New  York  City  Charter, 
Chap.  VIII,  Sec.  270. 

2  See  European  Police  Systems,  Chap.  IV. 

240 


The  Commissioner  or  Director 

they  appoint  their  commissioners  as  a  board  of  directors 
selects  a  general  manager  or  other  official,  not  for  a  defi- 
nitely established  term,  but  on  the  basis  of  satisfactory 
work.  Their  task  is  to  find  men  capable  of  serving  in- 
definitely—  men  who  have  the  ability  and  the  willingness 
to  devote  a  life-time  to  the  administrative  problem. 
\\'hen  such  a  man  is  found  there  is  no  disposition  to  ex- 
periment with  anybody  else.  No  one  would  care  to  as- 
sume responsibility  for  jeopardizing  an  organization  in 
which,  as  in  all  forms  of  business  enterprise,  continuity 
of  administration  is  the  best  guarantee  of  effectiveness. 

This  arangement  contains  nothing  inharmonious  with 
democratic  principles.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  it  has  nothing 
to  do  with  the  forjii  of  government.  It  is  a  method  of 
business  management,  a  principle  of  administration,  ser- 
viceable in  democracies  like  Switzerland  and  bureaucracies 
like  Germany.  In  Switzerland  and  England  the  police 
officials  are  invariably  under  popular  control.  Their  poli- 
cies are  shaped  and  supported  by  public  opinion,  and 
their  official  acts  express  the  will  of  the  communities  they 
serve.  A  serious  misstep  on  their  part  would  find  short 
shrift  at  the  hands  of  the  watch  committees  or  other  su- 
perior bodies  that  supervise  them.  But  their  official 
heads  are  not  periodically  cut  off  just  for  the  sake  of  cut- 
ting them  off,  or  for  fear  that  otherwise  the  police  might 
get  out  of  touch  with  popular  thought. 

We  here  in  America  have  been  slow  to  see  that  popu- 
lar government  can  maintain  trained  administrators  in 
public  office  without  having  its  wishes  strangled  or 
thwarted.  The  distrust  of  permanent  experts  has  no  real 
basis  if  they  can  be  kept  in  contact  with  public  opinion 

241 


American  Police  Systems 

through  the  control  of  representatives  of  the  people.  The 
experience  of  England  and  Switzerland  is  proof  of  the 
fact  that  this  is  not  impossible,  nor  indeed  difficult.^ 

Residence  Requirements  for  Commissioners. 

The  difficulty  of  maintaining  efficient  police  organiza- 
tions in  America  is  enhanced  by  another  factor  which 
finds  its  basis  partly  in  politics  and  partly  in  the  narrow 
provincialism  with  which  each  city  regards  its  own  public 
servants.  Instead  of  selecting  department  heads  on  the 
sole  basis  of  fitness,  regardless  of  their  residence  at  the 
time  of  appointment,  great  stress  is  laid,  both  in  law  and 
In  custom,  upon  the  principle  of  "  local  men  for  local 
positions."  Our  cities  seem  instinctively  to  resent  "  gov- 
ernment by  outsiders."  It  is  taken  as  a  reflection  upon 
the  community,  a  slur  upon  local  talent.  In  the  few  cases 
where  it  has  been  tried  it  has  met  with  considerable  popu- 
lar disapproval.  The  New  York  board  of  aldermen  has 
frequently  expressed  itself  in  no  uncertain  tones  on  the 
policy  of  introducing  "  outside  help,"  even  when  the 
"  help  "  consisted  of  a  well-known  expert  in  school  or- 
ganization. In  a  recent  municipal  election  in  Philadel- 
phia the  fact  that  the  outgoing  administration  had  brought 
from  other  cities  three  or  four  men  of  technical  skill  to 
assist  in  the  management  of  local  affairs  was  one  of  the 
heated  points  of  argument.  "  Philadelphia  jobs  for 
Philadelphians  "  became  the  slogan  of  the  day  and  pa- 
rades marched  with  signs  and  banners  bearing  the  words : 
"  The  departure  of  imported  office  holders." 

The  conception  of  public  office  as  a  "  job  " —  a  reward 

1  See  Lowell,  loc.  cit.,  Chap.  XIX. 

242 


The  Commissioner  or  Director 

for  the  faithful  —  no  doubt  underlies  much  of  this 
widely  prevalent  feeling,  although  in  many  cities  it  is 
buttressed  by  local  pride  —  a  belief  that  from  the  com- 
munity itself  can  be  recruited  all  the  expert  sendee  neces- 
sary for  its  management.  The  principle  of  a  community 
governing  itself  is  stretched  to  include  the  idea  that  the 
tools  employed  by  the  community  in  the  process  shall  be 
of  home  manufacture.  So  real  is  this  prejudice  against 
"  outside  "  assistance  and  so  deeply  is  it  imbedded  in  the 
political  traditions  of  the  country  that  in  most  cases  it 
has  the  sanction  of  law,  and  appointing  officers  are  obliged 
to  choose  as  departmental  administrators  men  who  have 
resided  in  the  city  for  a  prescribed  period.  Thus  in  Bos- 
ton the  law  provides  that  the  police  commissioner  shall 
have  resided  in  the  city  "  for  at  least  two  years  immedi- 
ately preceding  the  date  of  his  appointment."  ^  In  St. 
Louis  the  residential  requirement  is  four  years.-  In  Bal- 
timore the  police  board  consists  of  three  persons  *'  who 
shall  have  been  registered  voters  in  the  City  of  Baltimore 
for  three  consecutive  years  next  preceding  the  day  of 
their  appointment."  ^  The  San  Francisco  charter  pro- 
vides that  "  no  person  shall  be  appointed  (police)  com- 
missioner who  shall  not  have  been  an  elector  of  the  city 
and  county  at  least  five  years  next  preceding  his  appoint- 
ment." ■*  "  Qualified  elector  of  the  city  "  is  the  phrase 
used  in  many  charters  in  limiting  to  home  talent  the 
choice  of  business  managers  of  specialized  departments. 
In  this  practice  we  are  again  confronted  by  a  striking 

1  Acts  of  Mass.,  1906,  Chap.  291,  Sec.  7. 

2  Laws  of  Mo.,  1899,  Art.  1,  Sec.  466. 
'City  Charter  (Rev.  Ed.,  1915),  Sec.  740. 
*  City  Charter,  Chap.  II,  Sec.  i. 

243 


American  Police  Systems 

contrast  between  Europe  and  America.  A  European  city, 
whether  in  England,  Switzerland,  or  Germany,  is  con- 
cerned primarily  in  having  its  municipal  business  well  ad- 
ministered and  well  maintained.  Such  functions  as  po- 
lice, health,  and  fire  control  are  regarded  as  technical  di- 
visions of  government,  for  the  management  of  which 
highly  trained  men  are  essential.  The  task  of  the  ap- 
pointing officer  is  to  get  the  best  men,  and  it  is  a  matter 
of  no  concern  whether  at  the  time  of  appointment  they 
happen  to  be  living  in  one  city  or  another.  A  residential 
qualification  in  such  cases  is  as  irrelevant  as  it  would  be 
if  applied  to  the  managing  director  of  a  railroad  or  the 
head  of  a  medical  school  or  experimental  laboratory. 
Indeed  in  European  cities  there  has  been  no  thought  of 
applying  such  a  test  for  the  reason  that  no  one  would  care 
to  limit  so  narrowly  the  field  of  choice.  With  the  talent 
of  Great  Britain  to  draw  from,  for  example,  why  should 
Liverpool  or  Birmingham  insist  that  its  chief  constable 
be  recruited  from  its  own  population  ?  Or  what  would  be 
gained  if  Stuttgart  was  barred  from  inviting  an  experi- 
enced deputy  commissioner  from  Munich  to  join  its  staff 
as  commissioner,  and  had,  instead,  to  employ  some  in- 
ferior man  from  its  own  citizenship? 

This  is  the  conception  that  governs  the  public  service 
of  European  municipalities.  In  consequence,  men  are 
called  from  one  city  to  another,  and  the  line  of  promo- 
tion is  often  from  a  lesser  community  to  a  greater.  The 
police  commissioner  of  the  City  of  London  ^  was  twenty 

1  The  police  of  the  City  of  London  are  distinct  from  the  police  of 
the  London  Metropolitan  district.  See  European  Police  Systems, 
p.  39,  note  2. 

244 


The  Commissioner  or  Director 

years  head  constable  in  Liverpool ;  Liverpool  had  enticed 
him  from  Leeds,  where  he  had  occupied  the  same  posi- 
tion. The  chief  constable  of  Manchester  held  the  same 
post  in  Oldham  and  Canterbury  for  terms  of  seven  and 
five  years  respectively  before  he  was  called  to  his  present 
office.  \\'hen  the  authorities  of  Preston  wanted  a  chief 
constable  they  advertised  in  the  newspapers,  and  of  the 
seventy  candidates  who  applied  they  selected  a  man  who 
at  that  time  was  superintendent  of  police  in  the  town  of 
Devizes.  Later  this  same  man  was  called  to  Liverpool  as 
assistant  head  constable.  Lideed  in  England  and  in  Scot- 
land, except  in  cases  of  promotion,  it  is  seldom  that  a 
police  administrator  is  a  resident  of  the  city  which  chooses 
him.^ 

The  same  situation  is  largely  true  of  the  continent. 
The  commissioner  of  police  of  Rome  -  held  similar  posi- 
tions in  Ancona  and  Naples,  and  was  promoted  from  one 
city  to  another.  The  police  commissioner  of  Amsterdam 
served  in  the  same  capacity  in  Rotterdam.  The  assistant 
to  the  police  president  of  Dresden  was  taken  from  the 
police  department  of  ^Munich.  Among  the  smaller  Ger- 
man cities  the  local  councils  are  continually  introducing 
into  the  public  service  departmental  administrators  whose 
work  in  other  communities  has  attracted  attention. 

In  brief,  the  system  of  employment  of  public  officers 
abroad  is  much  more  elastic  than  in  America ;  no  narrow 
parochialism  bars  the  search  for  talent  wherever  it  can  be 
t)btained ;  the  entire  nation  contributes  to  the  effective  ad- 
ministration of  the  city. 

1  Ibid.,  Chap.  IV. 

-  His  title  is  Questorc  di  Roma. 

245 


American  Police  Systems 

The  Dilemma  and  the  Approach  to  Its  Solution. 

The  facts  thus  far  considered  present  a  perplexing  di- 
lemma. Effective  administrators  of  large  police  depart- 
ments are  not  easily  found  in  the  ranks;  indeed,  it  is  not 
to  be  supposed  that  they  could  be  found  in  the  ranks,  and 
this  solution  of  the  difficulty  contains  but  little  promise. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  lack  of  trained  government  execu- 
tives and  the  barrier  which  politics  and  American  tradi- 
tions have  erected  against  their  development  make  prob- 
lematical any  attempt  to  officer  a  police  force  from  outside 
sources.  What,  then,  is  the  solution  for  a  city  with  a 
difficult  police  situation  to  handle? 

That  there  is  no  simple  or  single  solution  —  certainly 
that  there  is  no  immediate  solution  —  must  at  once  be  ad- 
mitted. Political  customs  cannot  be  changed  over  night 
nor  can  the  fears  and  superstitions,  inherited  from  fron- 
tier conditions  of  life,  be  sloughed  off  at  will.  The  solu- 
tion of  the  difficulty,  therefore,  will  be  a  matter  of  devel- 
opment. If  a  solution  is  reached  it  will  be  through 
application  to  the  problem  of  government  administration 
of  the  same  common  sense  principles  upon  which  success 
in  private  business  depends.  A  manufacturer  who  com- 
mitted his  plant  to  a  periodically  shifting  line  of  untrained 
managers  could  not  hope  long  to  keep  his  business  out  of 
bankruptcy.  He  aims,  therefore,  to  obtain  the  best  abil- 
ity adapted  to  his  work  that  can  be  anywhere  secured,  and 
success  in  handling  the  plant  is  the  only  condition  of  con- 
tinued employment.  Adapted  to  police  organization  this 
principle  would  involve  the  selection  of  a  commissioner 
on  the  sole  basis  of  fitness  regardless  of  residence  or  po- 

246 


The  Commissioner  or  Director 

Htical  belief,  and  his  continuance  in  office  so  long  as  his 
work  is  effective,  no  matter  what  changes  occur  in  the 
politics  of  the  city  hall.  It  is  possible  that  public  admin- 
istration as  a  science  will  at  some  period  be  so  far  devel- 
oped in  America  that  a  training  school  for  police  adminis- 
trators will  be  a  practicable  project.  In  such  a  school 
would  be  developed  the  men  who,  after  long  apprentice- 
ship in  smaller  cities  or  in  the  lesser  positions  of  larger 
cities,  might  wisely  be  promoted  to  posts  of  heavy  re- 
sponsibility. Such  a  school,  indeed,  could  be  utilized  to 
include  not  merely  the  police  department  but  the  whole 
technical  administrative  service  of  the  country,  so  that 
trained  and  experienced  executives  could  be  readily  avail- 
able to  all  branches  of  local  government.  This  plan, 
however,  is  for  the  time  being  too  visionary  for  considera- 
tion. In  the  present  state  of  American  politics  it  has  no 
immediate  practical  value. 

In  the  last  analysis,  of  course,  the  problem  will  be 
solved,  if  solved  at  all,  not  by  way  of  any  specially  devised 
machinery  or  legislative  short-cut,  but  by  popular  edu- 
cation. It  is  idle  to  think  of  experts  superimposed  upon 
a  listless  or  unsympathetic  community.  In  America, 
initiative  and  moti\e  power  in  any  program  of  govern- 
mental reform  must  come  from  an  intelligent  electorate; 
and  this  way  lies  the  only  avenue  of  approach.  The  in- 
creasing demand  for  efficiency  in  government,  and  the 
growing  appreciation  that  the  hindrances  to  its  realization 
are  found  not  so  much  in  democracy  itself  as  in  some  of 
the  peculiar  methods  by  which  we  have  attempted  to  put 
democracy  into  effect,  promises  to  create  a  public  opinion 
perhaps  strong  enough  and  intelligent  enough  to  place  the 

247 


American  Police  Systems 

administrative  service  of  all  specialized  departments  of 
government  on  a  permanent,  expert  basis.  In  this,  as  in 
other  perplexing  problems  of  social  organization,  no  prog- 
ress can  be  made  without  steadfast  popular  support. 


248 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE    CHIEF    OF    POLICE 

Inaccurate  analogies. —  The  chief  and  his  relations  to  the  director. 
—  The  impermanent  tenure  of  the  chief. —  Illustrations. —  Imperma- 
nent tenure  due  to  politics. —  E.xamples. —  The  chief  and  civil  serv- 
ice.—  Difficulties  of  civil  service. —  Personnel  in  the  position  of 
chief. —  Politics  and  the  chief. 

The  point  is  sometimes  advanced  that  the  commissioner 
or  director  of  a  highly  specialized  municipal  department, 
like  health  or  the  police,  is  properly  a  layman,  represent- 
ing the  public  opinion  of  the  community  and  answerable 
for  general  results.  It  is  urged  that  such  men,  chosen 
from  time  to  time,  can  establish  with  the  technical  heads 
of  their  departments,  like  the  chief  of  police  or  the  chief 
health  specialist,  the  same  relation  as  exists  between  a 
board  of  directors  of  a  railroad  and  its  executive  officer. 
The  board  makes  no  pretense  to  technical  knowledge  to 
manage  the  railroad ;  it  merely  represents  the  business 
public.  Its  function  is  not  to  run  the  railroad,  but  to  see 
that  the  railroad  is  properly  run.  The  executive  officer, 
on  the  other  hand,  is  a  professional  expert,  thoroughly 
skilled  in  the  science  of  railroad  administration  and  re- 
sponsible under  the  policies  of  the  directors  for  its  suc- 
cessful operation.  Another  analogy  often  employed  to 
define  this  conception  of  the  police  commissioner  is  the 
use  of  laymen  as  heads  of  such  divisions  of  government 
as  our  War  and  Navy  Departments. 

249 


American  Police  Systems 

Unfortunately,  these  analogies  cannot  be  maintained  in 
relation  to  the  management  of  a  police  department.  As 
we  have  already  seen  in  the  preceding  chapter,  the  com- 
missioner is  far  more  than  a  general  business  adminis- 
trator. His  acquaintance  with  police  work  must  be  inti- 
mate and  detailed  if  he  is  to  have  any  effect  upon  its  effi- 
ciency. For  in  the  police  field  there  are  no  easy  standards 
of  work-accomplishment  such  as  one  finds  in  other  busi- 
nesses, both  public  and  private.  Faults  in  operation  and 
failures  in  achievement  are  readily  covered  up.  A  police 
administrator  who  is  insufficiently  acquainted  with  meth- 
ods and  processes  has  no  way  of  gauging  the  adequacy  of 
results.  Everything  is  relative  and  there  are  no  arbitrary 
measurements  of  success  or  failure  that  inexperienced  di- 
rectors can  apply.  For  example,  arrests  may  decrease 
over  a  period  of  time ;  this  may  be  the  result  of  police 
effectiveness  in  preventing  the  commission  of  crime  or  it 
may  be  due  to  ineffectiveness  in  apprehending  criminals. 
Only  a  skilled  administrator  can  make  the  proper  inter- 
pretation and  apply  the  necessary  remedy.  Again,  the  in- 
crease of  crime  complaints  in  a  given  period  may  or  may 
not  have  relation  to  the  size  of  the  force.  It  is  a  problem 
for  the  determination  of  an  experienced  director.  Simi- 
larly, an  increase  of  felonies  and  misdemeanors  may  be 
attributable  to  laxity  in  the  uniformed  force,  to  a  poorly 
managed  detective  bureau,  or  to  inadequate  constructive 
treatment  of  the  causes  of  crime.  It  may  be  due  to  none 
of  these  factors,  but  to  peculiar  economic  or  social  condi- 
tions. Only  training  and  skill  in  the  head  of  the  depart- 
ment can  diagnose  the  situation,  and  the  responsibility 
cannot  be  delegated  to  a  subordinate  officer. 

2^,0 


The  Chief  of  Police 

I  have  emphasized  this  point  because  in  many  quar- 
ters the  chief  of  poHce  is  loosely  thought  of  as  the  real 
"  expert,"  responsible  to  a  transitory  layman  director, 
and  on  this  theory  the  department  has  been  built  up. 
From  the  attempt  to  maintain  this  relationship  confusion 
and  bad  administration  have  resulted. 

The  Chief  and  his  Rckitions  to  the  Director. 

The  failures  attending  the  proper  adjustment  of  the 
relation  between  commissioner  and  chief  arise  in  large 
measure,  as  we  have  seen,  from  the  inherent  difficulty  of 
dividing  the  functions  of  police  administration  between 
two  different  administrators.  The  position  of  commis- 
sioner or  director  was  originally  superimposed  upon  the 
older  position  of  chief  without  any  clear  differentiation 
as  to  powers  and  authority,  and  for  years  the  lawmakers 
and  the  officials  themseh'es  have  laboriously  endeavored  to 
find  some  rational  line  of  demarcation.^  Such  an  at- 
tempt, however,  clashes  with  the  principle  of  responsible 
administration.  Moreover,  no  line  can  be  drawn  which 
will  practically  meet  the  demands  of  varying  occasions 

1  Occasionally,  in  an  attempt  to  protect  the  prerogatives  of  the 
chief,  his  powers  are  elaborately  set  forth  in  the  charter  and  hedged 
about  with  intricate  legal  defenses.  In  some  of  the  Ohio  cities, 
for  example,  he  is  given  full  right  to  make  details  and  transfers 
and  to  suspend  his  subordinates  pending  tinal  disciplinary  action  by 
his  superior.  Moreover,  he  is  protected  against  arbitrary  removal 
at  the  hands  of  the  director  of  public  safety  by  a  provision  which 
places  the  power  in  this  matter  in  the  civil  service  commission.  But 
even  these  restrictions  do  not  insure  a  well-balanced  relationship 
between  the  director  and  the  chief,  nor  do  they  necessarily  confer 
upon  the  latter  any  appreciable  amount  of  administrative  responsi- 
bility. The  civil  service  commission,  like  the  director,  is  appointed 
by  the  mayor;  but  even  in  the  absence  of  any  coercive  influence 
such  as  this  arrangement  might  imply,  the  wishes  of  the  chief's 
superior  officer  in  matters  of  detail  customarily  prevail. 


American  Police  Systems 

and  temperaments.  Even  more  clearly  impossible  is  it  to 
establish  such  a  line  generally  for  all  departments.  The 
size  and  character  of  the  community  must  determine 
whether  both  an  administrative  expert  and  an  executive 
officer  are  needed.  Assuming  that  some  degree  of  perma- 
nency is  assured  for  the  commissioner,  a  small  city  may 
well  dispense  with  the  position  of  chief,  or  at  least  the 
two  positions  can  be  merged.  In  a  larger  city,  where 
perhaps  a  number  of  bureaus  are  grouped  under  a  single 
administrator,  it  may  be  equally  advisable  to  retain  the 
post.  In  any  event,  the  matter  should  rest  with  the  re- 
sponsible head  of  the  department  —  the  commissioner  — 
free  to  select  such  executive  agents  as  he  needs  or  none 
at  all  if  no  necessity  arises.  If  a  chief  executive  officer 
of  some  sort  is  thought  essential,  the  duties  of  the  posi- 
tion as  well  as  its  scope  should  rest  with  the  commis- 
sioner. There  would  thus  be  avoided  the  elaborate  legal 
distinctions  in  function  between  the  two  officials  which 
hamper  rather  than  aid  the  relationship,  and  render  the 
whole  organization  rigid  and  inflexible.  This  is  the  plan 
in  operation  in  Boston,  where,  under  the  present  adminis- 
tration, the  relations  between  the  civilian  commissioner 
and  the  uniformed  superintendent  arg  well  adjusted.  The 
commissioner  is  under  no  legal  obligation,  however,  to 
appoint  any  superintendent;  he  could,  if  he  chose,  ad- 
minister the  force  without  one.  Practically  the  same 
principle  has  for  nineteen  years  been  in  operation  in  New 
York  City;  since  the  position  of  chief  was  abolished  the 
successive  commissioners  have  assigned  executive  duties 
sometimes  to  the  chief  inspector,  sometimes  to  other  uni- 
formed officials. 

252 


The  Chief  of  Police 

This  suggestion  is  of  course  predicated  upon  the  be- 
hef  that  ultimate  efficiency  can  be  secured  only  if  one  man 
is  held  completely  responsible  for  the  operation  of  his  de- 
partment. The  line  of  progress  in  police  organization 
points  toward  a  trained  commissioner,  holding  office  for 
an  unlimited  term,  rather  than  toward  a  plan  which  at- 
tempts definitely  to  separate,  between  two  officers,  admin- 
istrative and  executive  powers.  The  chief  of  police 
should  bear  to  the  commissioner  or  director  the  same  re- 
lationship which  any  of  the  vice  presidents  of  a  railroad 
bear  to  the  president.  That  is,  he  should  be  entrusted 
with  such  responsibilities  as  will  relieve  the  commissioner 
of  the  burden  of  administrative  detail,  and  promote  a 
smooth  working  organization.  The  commissioner,  how- 
ever, should  at  all  times  be  empowered  to  rearrange  his 
duties,  to  overrule  his  decisions,  to  correct  his  judgments, 
and  if  necessary  to  abolish  his  position  altogether. 

As  to  what  sort  of  work  a  chief  might  be  entrusted  to 
perform,  no  definite  rule  can  ])e  laid  down.  Assignments, 
details,  transfers,  the  arrangement  of  shifts  and  hours 
would,  under  ordinary  circumstances,  form  part  of  his 
duties.  So,  too,  he  could  digest  for  the  commissioner  the 
daily  reports  of  crime  and  the  records  of  unusual  occur- 
rences, presenting  his  expert  opinion  and  recommenda- 
tions gained  from  a  careful  study  of  the  subjects.  Be- 
cause his  connection  with  the  daily  operations  of  the  force 
is  intimate  and  continuous  he  might  well  be  given  a  rea- 
sonably free  hand  in  disposing  of  minor  disciplinary 
cases.  In  all  these  matters,  however,  he  should  be  merely 
the  agent  or  representative  of  the  commissioner,  exercis- 
ing only  such  powers  as  the  latter  may  delegate  to  him. 

253 


American  Police  Systems 

The  Impermanent  Tenure  of  the  Chief. 

If  any  single  factor  were  fatal  to  the  position  of  the 
chief  of  police  as  an  expert,  in  the  relationship  in  which 
we  drew  the  analogy  at  the  beginning  of  the  chapter,  it 
would  lie  in  his  impermanent  tenure  of  office.  The  suc- 
cess of  a  non-professional,  transitory  head,  such  as  the 
British  cabinet  minister,  is  predicated  on  the  existence  un- 
der him  of  a  permanent  administrative  manager,  and  the 
analogy  between  the  chief  of  police  and  the  under-secre- 
tary  of  a  British  department  breaks  down  in  the  face  of 
the  constant  shift  and  change  that  characterize  this  branch 
of  police  service  in  the  United  States. 

The  limited  tenure  of  the  chief  of  police  is  a  matter 
of  both  law  and  custom.  In  many  cities  he  is  appointed 
under  the  charter  for  a  prescribed  term.  Thus  in  San 
Francisco  he  serves  four  years,  in  Los  Angeles  four 
years,  in  San  Antonio  two  years,  in  St.  Paul  two  years, 
and  in  Memphis  one  year.  In  many  more  cities  it  is  an 
accepted  custom  for  an  incoming  board  or  administration 
to  appoint  its  own  chief  of  police,  regardless  of  the  fact 
that  the  chief's  term  of  office  is  not  legally  limited.  Oc- 
casionally a  single  administration  will  make  two  and 
sometimes  three  appointments  to  the  position.  Conse- 
quently police  management  is  marked  almost  as  much  by 
a  shifting  succession  of  chiefs  as  by  an  ever  changing 
line  of  commissioners.  San  Francisco  in  the  eleven  years 
between  1900  and  191 1  had  eight  chiefs;  Pittsburgh  in 
the  five  years  between  1901  and  1906  had  six;  in  the 
last  43  years  Los  Angeles  has  had  25  chiefs,  making  an 
average  term  of  less  than  two  years.     ]\Iinneapolis  in  32 

254 


The  Chief  of  Police 

years  has  had  thirteen;  Seattle  in  nineteen  years  has  had 
ten;  Des  Moines  in  the  sixteen-year  period  between  1901 
and  19 1 7  had  eleven.  Denver  furnishes  a  typical  illustra- 
tion of  the  point,  with  fifteen  chiefs  in  38  years,  an  aver- 
age of  two  years  and  a  quarter  for  each  man;  of  the 
fifteen  incumbents,  two  were  removed  on  charges  of  dis- 
honesty, one  for  improper  conduct  in  connection  with  the 
search  of  a  woman  prisoner,  one  for  drunkenness  in  a 
disorderly  house,  and  the  others  for  political  reasons,  gen- 
erally in  connection  with  changes  in  the  municipal  admin- 
istration. The  present  chief  of  police  in  Denver  held  the 
same  office  on  three  prior  occasions,  each  time  being 
thrown  out  by  an  unfavorable  turn  of  the  political  wheel. 
A  survey  of  other  cities  shows  the  same  situation,  al- 
though in  some  the  rate  of  change  is  not  as  rapid  as  in 
Pittsburgh  or  San  Francisco.  Philadelphia  has  had  six 
chiefs  in  33  years,  an  average  of  over  five  years  apiece.^ 
Five  chiefs  have  held  office  in  Cincinnati  since  1887,  an 
average  term  of  over  six  years.  Cleveland  has  had  six 
in  23  years,  an  average  term  of  four  years.  Louisville 
since  1870  has  had  thirteen  chiefs,  or  an  average  incum- 
bency of  approximately  four  years.  Since  18S5  Balti- 
more has  had  five  chiefs,-  St.  Louis  and  Detroit,  seven, 
and  Newark,  seven. ^     In  some  few  departments,  gener- 

1  The  title  is  siipcriiilcndcnt  in  Philadelphia. 

-  This  includes  one  chief  who  served  at  two  different  periods. 
The  title  in  Baltimore  is  marshal. 

■'  From  1844,  when  the  position  of  chief  was  first  established,  to 
1901,  when  it  was  abolished.  New  York  City  had  twelve  chiefs  of 
police,  an  average  term  of  four  years,  six  months.  Atlanta  in  47 
years  has  had  ten  chiefs,  one  of  whom  served  sixteen  years,  making 
an  average  for  the  others  of  less  than  four  years  apiece.  New  Or- 
leans in  08  years,  excluding  three  years  of  military  occupancy,  has 
had  25,  an  average  term  of  two  years,  nine  months. 


American  Police  Systems 

ally  in  the  smaller  cities,  one  finds  chiefs  of  police  hold- 
ing over  creditably  long  terms.  The  chief  of  police  of 
Grand  Rapids,  recently  retired,  served  21  years;  in  Man- 
chester (N.  H.)  the  chief  has  served  28  years.  Mil- 
waukee's chief  of  police,  with  31  years  of  continuous 
service  to  his  credit,  probably  holds  the  record  in  the 
United  States  at  the  present  time.  These  cases,  however, 
are  exceptional ;  one  must  search  the  records  to  find  them, 
and  they  stand  out  in  sharp  relief  against  the  common 
practice  of  our  municipalities. 

Impermanent  Tenure  Due  to  Politics. 

The  impermanent  character  of  the  chief's  tenure  is 
ascribable,  as  has  been  indicated,  largely  to  politics.  A 
Democratic  administration  wants  a  Democratic  chief,  just 
as  a  Republican  administration  insists  upon  a  chief  from 
its  own  party.  It  is  one  of  the  accepted  rules  of  the 
game,  and  the  idea  of  the  chief  as  an  expert  in  a  spe- 
cialized department  is  subordinated  to  the  conception,  dif- 
ficult to  overcome,  that  the  spoils  belong  to  the  victors, 
and  that  the  police  department  must  be  kept  in  line  for 
the  next  political  battle.  Consequently  the  chief  is  the 
victim  of  recurring  political  changes  —  appointed  to  his 
position,  losing  it,  often  reappointed  and  losing  it  again, 
as  the  political  wheel  registers  success  or  failure  for  the 
party  with  which  he  is  affiliated. 

This  point  is  amply  borne  out  by  a  study  of  the  changes 
occurring  in  the  position  of  chief  in  a  city  like  St.  Paul. 
John  Clark,  a  Republican,  was  appointed  chief  in  1883, 
retired  in  1892,  reappointed  in  iS'94,  retired  in  1896. 
John  J.  O'Connor,  a  Democrat,  appointed  chief  of  police 

256 


The  Chief  of  Police 

in  1900,  resigned  in  191 2  when  the  RepubHcans  came  into 
power,  but  was  reappointed  in  19 14  when  his  party  was 
again  victorious.  In  the  interval  between  the  Clark 
regime  and  the  O'Connor  regime  a  varied  succession  of 
Republicans  and  Democrats  held  the  post.  Similarly  in 
Minneapolis  iu  32  years  the  succession  of  chiefs  has  been 
as  follows :  two  Democrats,  two  Republicans,  two  Demo- 
crats, one  Republican,  two  Democrats,  one  professedly 
non-partisan,  one  Socialist  and  one  Independent  Repub- 
lican. Needless  to  say,  the  mayors  responsible  for  these 
appointments  follow^ed  in  the  same  political  succession. 
According  to  a  practice  which  we  shall  discuss  in  a  later 
chapter,  each  change  in  the  head  of  the  department  from 
one  party  to  another  was  accompanied  by  wholesale  re- 
movals in  the  rank  and  file. 

The  chief  of  police  of  a  city  in  Pennsylvania  writes 
me  as  follows:  "  I  was  first  appointed  chief  of  police 
in  this  city  in  1893,  and  served  in  that  capacity  for  two 
years.  ...  A  political  change  occurred  and  I  w^orked  as 
superintendent  for  a  private  detective  agency  for  six 
years.  I  w^as  then  reappointed  chief  of  police,  serving 
for  six  years,  when  I  was  again  thrown  out  by  a  turn 
of  the  political  wheel.  I  was  again  appointed  in  191 2 
and  have  been  on  the  job  since."  The  experience  of  this 
official  has  been  duplicated  in  scores  of  instances. 

It  is  not  at  all  unusual  for  a  chief  of  police  at  the  ex- 
piration of  his  service  to  be  returned  to  the  ranks  as  cap- 
tain, or  in  some  other  subordinate  capacity  where,  with 
some  hope,  perhaps,  he  awaits  the  return  of  more  aus- 
picious days.  This  custom,  as  we  have  seen,  is  practised 
in  Chicago;  at  the  time  that  this  is  written  there  are  two 

257 


American  Police  Systems 

captains  in  the  ranks,  who  formerly  administered  the  en- 
tire force.  At  the  time  of  my  visit  to  Indianapohs  two 
officials  in  the  ranks,  one  in  charge  of  the  detective  bureau 
and  the  other  a  desk  sergeant,  had  once  held  the  position 
of  chief.  In  St.  Paul  the  chief  under  a  Republican  regime 
was  made  a  captain  when  the  Democrats  came  into  power. 
In  Atlanta  a  former  chief  was  allowed  to  continue  on  the 
force  as  a  patrolman. 

In  Toledo  in  1914  the  mayor  appointed  as  chief  of  po- 
lice a  traffic  officer  who  had  actively  espoused  his  election. 
Later,  as  a  result  of  disagreements  the  mayor  brought 
charges  against  him  before  the  civil  service  commission, 
forcing  his  reduction,  to  the  rank  of  patrolman.  In  the 
following  municipal  campaign  the  officer  himself  ran  for 
mayor,  seeking  vindication  from  the  public,  as  he  ex- 
pressed it,  for  the  unfair  treatment  which  he  had  received. 
Defeated  at  the  election,  he  was  reinstated  in  the  depart- 
ment as  a  plainclothesman.  "  We  are  so  riddled  with 
politics,"  an  officer  of  the  Toledo  force  told  me,  "that 
nobody  knows  who  is  going  to  be  chief  tomorrow." 

In  Birmingham  (Ala.)  it  was  the  custom  a  number  of 
years  ago,  to  have  the  chief  run  for  appointment  at  the 
Democratic  primary  elections,  the  members  of  the  board 
of  police  commissioners  pledging  themselves  to  appoint 
the  man  thus  selected.  The  term  was  for  two  years,  and 
rival  candidates  for  the  position  took  the  stump  in  an 
endeavor  to  win  the  citizens  to  an  appreciation  of  their 
respective  abilities.  Naturally  the  prize  went  to  the  man 
who  had  a  special  gift  for  catching  the  fanc}^  of  a  crowd, 
or  whose  promises  and  favors  seemed  the  more  substan- 


The  Chief  of  Police 

tial.'  In  twelve  years  five  different  chiefs  held  the  post. 
These  examples  represent,  of  course,  somewhat  unusual 
cases.  Nevertheless  they  are  typical,  if  not  of  the  actual 
circumstances,  at  least  of  the  spirit  of  many  American 
cities  in  subordinating  conceptions  of  e.xpert  service  to  the 
exigencies  of  politics. 

TJic  Chief  and  Civil  Service. 

In  some  cities  definite  steps  have  been  taken  to  counter- 
act the  transient  character  of  the  chief's  position  by  plac- 
ing it  under  civil  service  regulations.  This  is  true,  for 
example,  of  the  cities  of  Ohio,-  of  some  of  the  cities  of 
New  Jersey.^  and  many  of  the  municipalities  of  Massa- 
chusetts.^ The  Ohio  law,  which  was  pased  in  19 15,  pro- 
vides that  charges  against  the  chief  of  police  must  be 
heard  by  the  municipal  civil  service  commission.  Under 
the  New  Jersey  statute  removal  of  chiefs  of  police  is 
lodged  in  the  hands  of  the  appointing  authorities,  but  the 
state  civil  service  commission  reviews  the  action  and  has 
the  right,  after  calling  witnesses  and  considering  all  the 
evidence,  finally  to  determine  the  case.'"^  In  the  Massa- 
chusetts cities  which  have  adopted  the  act,  removals  are 

^  This  system  was  abolished  in  191 1. 

-Ohio  Laws  of  1915 — "  .^n  act  to  amend  sections  4S6-1  to  486-31 
inclusive  and  to  repeal  section  4505  of  the  General  Code  relating  to 
the  civil  service  of  the  State  of  Ohio,  tiie  several  counties,  cities, 
and  city  school  districts  thereof."     pp.  400-419. 

3  Newark,  Trenton,  Jersey  City,  Paterson,  East  Orange,  South 
Orange,  and  Elizabeth.  In  these  communities  the  state  civil  service 
law  (Laws  of  N.  J.,  1908,  Chap.  156)  was  adopted  by  referendum. 

*  Cambridge,  Fall  River,  Lynn.  New  Bedford,  Newton,  Pitlslicld, 
Springfield,  Worcester,  and  twelve  others.  The  civil  service  law 
which  the^^e  cities  accepted  is  Chapter  468  of  the  Acts  of  191 1. 

^  In  addition  a  review  by  the  courts  could  probably  be  obtained. 


American  Police  Systems 

made  by  the  appointing  boards  or  officers  after  the  presen- 
tation of  written  charges  and  a  hearing;  and  opportunity 
is  afforded  for  a  full  review  by  the  courts.^ 

In  most  of  the  cities  where  the  chief  of  police  is  pro- 
tected by  civil  service,  the  law  is  too  recent  a  development 
to  make  possible  more  than  a  tentative  appraisal.  That 
it  will  discourage  constant  changes  in  the  position  and 
lengthen  the  term  of  office  of  the  average  incumbent  is 
not  to  be  doubted.  In  so  far  as  this  is  accomplished  the 
law  will  represent  a  worthy  and  substantial  advance  over 
old  conditions.  It  is  hardly  probable  that  the  cities  of 
Ohio,  for  example,  will  ever  again  see  the  long  succession 
of  police  chiefs  that  for  many  years  past  has  filed  in  and 
out  of  the  doors  of  their  police  departments. 

On  the  other  hand  it  is  improbable  that  the  law,  cer- 
tainly as  it  is  now  framed,  will  prove  an  unmixed  bless- 
ing. The  trite  remark  that  civil  service  is  the  lesser  of 
two  evils  will  doubtless  find  reinforcement  in  this  new 
application.  In  just  the  proportion  that  removal  is  made 
legally  formidable  is  the  difficulty  increased  of  getting  rid 
of  unfit  men  when  public  interest  demands  it.  Civil  serv- 
ice has  too  often  proved  a  bulwark  for  incompetence  and 
neglect,  to  justify  over  sanguine  hopes  in  its  extension  to 
this  new  administrative  field.  Too  often,  too,  it  has 
served  as  a  respectable  cloak  for  political  juggling,  de- 
feating its  own  purpose,  and  bringing  the  whole  cause 
of  reform  into  disrepute.  No  head  of  a  police  depart- 
ment in  Great  Britain —  indeed  no  member  of  a  police 
force  —  is  protected  by  civil  service,  and  yet  removals 
for  political  or  personal  reasons  are  practically  unheard 

1  Acts  of  Mass.,  191 1,  Chap.  624. 

260 


The  Chief  of  Police 

of.  Custom  and  public  opinion  unite  to  maintain  the 
administration  of  this  department  on  a  high  plane.  We 
in  America,  on  the  other  hand,  attempt  to  substitute  law 
for  public  opinion,  and  too  often  become  the  victims  of 
its  rigidity  and  inelasticity.  At  the  same  time,  in  choos- 
ing between  two  difficulties  such  as  confront  us,  it  is  the 
course  of  wisdom  to  select  the  less  formidable.  An  in- 
vestigating committee  in  New  York,  in  reporting  a  plan 
to  increase  the  term  of  office  of  the  police  commissioner, 
aptly  expressed  the  idea  as  follows : 

"  The  purpose  of  our  recommendation  is  to  give 
fixity  of  tenure  to  the  commissioner.  We  believe  that 
this  can  be  accomplished  only  by  making  his  removal 
really  difficult.  The  disadvantage  of  being  unable 
easily  to  get  rid  of  an  inefficient  commissioner  is  evi- 
dent, but  we  cannot  devise  a  satisfactory  plan  to  be 
operated  by  human  beings  (the  only  raw  material 
available)  that  will  give  fixity  of  tenure  to  a  good  com- 
missioner, and  still  make  it  easy  to  remove  a  bad  one. 
Of  the  two  horns  of  this  dilemma,  we  prefer  fixity  of 
tenure."  ^ 

A  difficulty  peculiar  to  such  civil  service  laws  as  those 
we  have  noticed  above  lies  in  the  unnecessarily  comple.x 
machinery  by  which  removals  are  secured.  In  an  en- 
deavor to  give  ample  protection  to  the  chief,  the  laws 
have  surrounded  the  position  with  a  defense  too  intricate 
and  elaborate  to  insure  the  best  results.  In  the  New  Jer- 
sey cities,  as  we  have  noticed,  discretion  in  the  last  analy- 

1  Report  of  the  Citizens'  Committee  appointed  at  the  Cooper 
Union  Mass  Meeting,  August  14,  1912. 

261 


American  Police  Systems 

sis  is  vested  with  the  state  civil  service  commission,  a 
body  bearing  no  responsibihty  to  the  local  government, 
and  probably  unfamiliar  with  the  facts  and  circumstances 
leading  to  the  removal.  In  consequence,  authority  in  po- 
lice management  is  scattered,  and  the  department,  as  well 
as  the  community  it  serves,  suffers  from  the  lack  of 
sharply  defined  responsibility.  This  condition  is  true  of 
the  Ohio  cities  where  the  director  of  public  safety,  answer- 
able for  the  conduct  of  police  business,  has  no  voice 
whatever  in  the  removal  of  the  chief;  instead,  the  power 
is  vested  with  the  civil  service  commission,  a  body  with- 
out responsibility  for  police  management,  and  with  no 
vision  of  the  whole  police  problem  of  which  the  removal 
of  the  chief  is  but  a  single  phase. 

There  is  danger  that  in  protecting  the  chief  from  ca- 
pricious removal  the  fundamental  principle  of  responsible 
leadership  will  be  compromised.  In  most  cases  ample 
security  would  be  afforded  if  the  officer  or  board,  with 
power  to  remove,  were  required  to  file  written  charges, 
and  with  due  notice  give  a  public  hearing  at  which  the 
defendant  would  have  full  opportunity  to  present  his  case. 
A  review  by  the  courts  could  be  allowed  to  determine, 
not  the  adequacy  of  the  charges,  but  merely  the  regularity 
of  the  proceeding.  To  go  further  is  to  rob  the  community 
of  any  right  to  hold  one  man  responsible  for  what  hap- 
pens in  the  police  department.  Public  opinion  rather 
than  law  must  increasingly  become  the  chief  corrective 
of  our  institutional  ills  if  any  substantial  improvement  is 
to  be  looked  for. 

One  more  difficulty  in  connection  with  the  civil  service 
laws  above  cited  remains  to  be  noticed.     In  Ohio,  New 

262 


The  Chief  of  Police 

Jersey,  and  Massachusetts,  the  statutes  provide  that  the 
chief  shall  be  promoted  from  the  next  lowest  rank,^  a  limi- 
tation which  may  seriously  cripple  the  leadership  of  the 
department.  It  is  by  no  means  certain  that  the  best  ma- 
terial for  the  position  of  chief  can  invariably  be  found 
in  the  next  lowest  rank.  Indeed,  it  is  possible  that  men 
of  far  better  calibre  for  the  post  can  be  obtained  either 
from  another  rank  or  from  another  force  or  from  private 
life.  To  narrow  the  field  of  choice  for  an  administrative 
position  such  as  this,  in  which  personality  and  special 
ability  count  for  so  much,  is  to  deny  the  department  the 
benefit  of  the  best  intelligence  obtainable.  For  a  num- 
ber of  years  in  one  of  the  large  cities  of  Massachusetts, 
for  example,  permanent  appointment  to  the  position  of 
chief  was  long  deferred  because  of  the  lack  of  promising 
material  in  the  rank  of  captain.  Four  of  the  captains 
were  far  too  old  for  the  post,  while  the  remaining  two 
had  political  affiliations  such  as  to  make  the  appointment 
of  either  of  them  a  questionable  expedient.  Similarly  in 
a  New  Jersey  city  at  the  time  of  my  visit,  the  retirement 
of  the  chief  would  have  opened  the  position  to  two  offi- 
cers, one  of  whom  had  no  administrative  capacity  what- 

^  Ohio  civil  service  rules,  January  27,  1916,  Rule  VIII;  Acts  of 
Mass.,  191 1,  Chap.  408;  New  Jersey  Laws  of  1908,  Chap.  156 
(accepted  by  East  Orange,  Elizabeth,  Jersey  City,  Newark,  Pater- 
son,  and  South'Orange).  This  restriction  is  somewhat  modilied  in 
that  persons  from  any  grade  may  take  e.Kamination  for  promotion 
to  the  position  of  chief  if  there  arc  not  the  required  number  of 
eligibles  in  the  next  lower  grade.  Despite  the  apparent  elasticity 
of  these  provisions,  the  fact  remains  that  in  Ohio  (except  where  the 
state  civil  service  law  is  superseded  by  such  home  rule  charters  as 
contain  specific  provision  for  civil  service,  as  in  the  case  of  Toledo) 
and  in  the  twenty  cities  of  Massachusetts  which  have  accepted  the 
law  of  191 1,  it  is  mandatory  that  all  possible  candidates  within  the 
force  be  exhausted  before  recourse  may  be  had  to  an  original  ex- 
amination for  the  position  of  chief. 

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American  Police  Systems 

ever,  while  the  integrity  of  the  other  was  not  above  sus- 
picion. 

Obviously  it  is  unfair  to  a  department  to  limit  the  ap- 
pointment of  chief  to  such  undesirable  candidates,  nor  is 
a  restriction  of  this  kind  essential  to  the  principle  of  civil 
service. 

Personnel  in  the  Position  of  Chief. 

It  cannot  be  said  that  the  average  chief  of  police  repre- 
sents a  conspicuous  order  of  ability.  In  fact  only  occa- 
sionally do  the  incumbents  of  this  rank  seem  to  interpret 
police  work  in  any  other  terms  than  those  of  handcuffs 
and  the  night  stick.  Frequently  possessing  genuine  abil- 
ity in  such  matters  as  handling  traffic  or  managing  crowds, 
they  are  often  unable  to  understand  involved  problems 
of  organization  or  to  conceive  of  police  work  in  its 
broader  relationships.  The  common  practices  of  the  busi- 
ness manager  in  securing  administrative  control  of  his 
plant  are  frankly  beyond  their  comprehension.  Even 
when  their  offices  are  equipped  with  such  mechanical  aids 
as  daily  reports  or  statistics  of  work,  these  appliances 
are  not  used  as  instruments  of  management,  because  such 
use  is  not  understood.  Most  of  the  chiefs  have  had  no 
opportunity  to  develop  administrative  ability.  They  have 
served  for  years  as  patrolmen,  sergeants,  and  captains, 
and  their  experience  thus  acquired  has  little  relationship 
to  the  task  of  management;  it  does  not  necessarily  equip 
them  to  obtain  maximum  results  from  their  subordinates 
or  make  them  alert  to  the  possibilities  of  improvement  in 
their  organizations. 

To  this  situation  may  perhaps  in  part  be  ascribed  the 

264 


The  Chief  of  Police 

tendency  of  commissioners  and  directors  to  infringe  upon 
the  proper  functions  of  the  chief.  They  see  in  him  an 
official,  inadequately  trained  for  his  tasks,  struggling  with 
more  or  less  intelligence  and  zeal  with  what  is  at  best  a 
difficult  problem.  Their  assumption  of  his  duties,  with 
the  confusing  consequences  which  we  have  already  noted, 
is  doubtless  prompted  in  many  cases  by  a  genuine  desire 
to  have  the  police  department  well  run,  and  by  a  belief 
that  this  result  cannot  be  secured  with  so  poor  an  instru- 
ment. 

In  many  cities,  too,  the  chief  has  the  appearance  of 
being  more  interested  in  politics  than  in  the  administration 
of  his  force.  He  realizes  that  the  length  of  his  service 
depends  upon  his  ability  to  maintain  political  affiliations 
powerful  enough  to  keep  him  in  office,  and  his  energies 
are  bent  in  that  direction.  In  consequence  his  real  work 
is  neglected,  partly  because  it  is  not  continuously  on  his 
mind,  and  partly  because  its  active  prosecution  might  an- 
tagonize the  forces  upon  which  he  relies  for  support. 
His  administration  is  therefore  devoted  to  the  mainte- 
nance of  the  status  quo  of  his  department,  and  change  and 
innovation  are  discouraged. 

To  imply  that  these  characterizations  are  true  of  all 
chiefs  of  police  would,  of  course,  be  grossly  unjust.  One 
finds  some  officers  of  this  rank  splendidly  equipped  for 
their  work :  keen,  progressive,  eager  for  new  ideas.  In 
Berkeley,  California,  for  instance,  the  chief  is  capable 
to  an  unusual  degree  and  his  influence  is  felt  throughout 
the  West.*  Chief  Quigley  of  Rochester,  N.  Y.,  may  be 
mentioned   in  the  same  breath.     One  finds  many  more 

1  August  Vollmer. 

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American  Police  Systems 

chiefs  honestly  striving  with  poor  equipment  and  against 
hostile  influence  to  build  up  an  effective  department.  On 
the  whole,  however,  the  impression  gained  from  a  com- 
posite picture  of  chiefs  of  police  would  be  one  of  limited 
resourcefulness  and  lethargy. 

The  police  department  of  one  of  the  largest  industrial 
cities  of  the  South  was,  at  the  time  of  my  visit,  demor- 
alized and  chaotic.  Uniforms  were  patched  and  shabby; 
policemen  patrolled  with  coats  unbuttoned,  and  often  with 
toothpicks  or  cigars  in  their  mouths.  There  was  no  crim- 
inal identification  system  in  the  detective  bureau,  and  no 
records  of  any  kind  were  maintained  for  control  or  sta- 
tistical purposes.  Serious  crimes  were  of  frequent  oc- 
currence, but  except  as  some  one  in  the  department  re- 
membered them  there  was  no  way  by  which  the  chief  or 
any  of  his  assistants  could  tell  who  was  handling  the 
cases  or  what  had  been  done.  "  The  less  you  say  about 
our  police  department  the  better,"  I  was  told  by  the  sec- 
retary of  the  local  chamber  of  commerce.  Who  was  the 
chief  responsible  for  these  conditions?  He  was  a  dull, 
ignorant,  untrained  man  with  no  idea  of  administration, 
indeed  with  no  conception  of  what  his  position  meant. 
Much  of  his  time  he  spent  sitting  on  a  box  in  an  alley 
back  of  police  headquarters,  w-hittling  on  a  stick  and 
swapping  stories  with  his  lieutenants. 

Again  emphasis  must  be  laid  on  the  fact  that  this  pic- 
ture is  by  no  means  true  of  our  chiefs  of  police  as  a 
whole,  nor  indeed,  in  its  entirety  of  many  of  them.  It 
serves  to  show,  however,  why  the  average  level  of  ability 
in  this  position  is  no  higher  than  my  previous  character- 
ization would  indicate. 

266 


The  Chief  of  Police 

Nevertheless  in  passing-  judgment  such  as  this,  it  is 
well  to  remember  that  the  average  chief  of  police  is  more 
sinned  against  than  sinning.  He  is  the  victim  of  a  po- 
litical system  for  which  he  is  in  no  way  responsible,  often 
owing  his  appointment  and  continuance  in  oftice  to  the 
sinister  forces  that  control  many  of  our  municipalities. 
With  a  public  opinion  on  the  one  hand  none  too  well 
formed  or  articulate,  and  on  the  other  hand  the  constant 
pressure  of  powerful  party  influences,  it  is  small  wonder 
that  many  of  the  chiefs  are  mediocre  in  calibre,  ambition- 
less  and  unimaginative  in  their  work.  Rather  the  won- 
der is  that  some  of  them,  without  hope  of  appreciation, 
are  effective  and  undiscouraged.  "If  the  politicians 
"would  keep  their  hands  off  I  could  build  up  one  of  the 
finest  departments  in  the  country.''  This  remark,  made 
by  the  police  chief  of  a  large  city  in  Ohio,  is  typical  of 
what  many  of  them  say  in  confidential  moments.  In  the 
words  of  the  chief  in  a  western  city:  "Give  us  five 
years  without  politics  and  we  will  revolutionize  police  or- 
ganization in  the  United  States." 

At  bottom  the  police  problem  is  a  problem  in  public  edu- 
cation. American  municipalities  are  not  impotent.  They 
are  in  a  position  to  obtain  what  they  want.  That  so  many 
of  them  are  content  with  the  rule  of  the  politician  and  its 
train  of  ugly  consequences,  that  highly  specialized  social 
functions  like  policing  are  thrown  into  the  political  arena 
and  battled  for  as  a  matter  of  course,  is  indicative  of  low 
community  standards  and  a  public  will  weak  and  unde- 
veloped. Because  it  demands  so  much  from  so  many,  de- 
mocracy is  the  most  difficult  form  of  government  to  work. 
Its  sole  hope  of  success  lies  in  the  slow  process  of  popular 
education  —  intensive,  unremitting,  undiscouraged. 

267 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE    RANK    AND    FILE 

The  place  of  the  uniformed  force  in  the  police  department. —  Its 
relation  to  other  branches  of  the  service.—  Civil  service  and  the 
police. —  Demoralized  conditions  without  civil  service. —  Civil  service 
in  operation.—  Appointments.—  Promotions.—  Discipline.—  The  limi- 
tations of  civil  service.—  A  rational  civil  service  needed.—  The  police 
school. —  Educational  activities  of  the  New  York  department. —  The 
patrol  service.—  Foot  patrol  becoming  obsolete. —  Automobiles  in 
patrol  work. —  Over-emphasis  on  the  mechanical  side  of  police  or- 
ganization.—  The  lack  of  fluidity  in  mobilization. —  Police  unions. — 
Responsibility  of  the  community  to  the  police. —  The  police  and 
industrial  disturbance. 

In  the  task  which  confronts  the  police  —  i.e.,  maintain- 
ing the  security  of  persons  and  property  and  safeguard- 
ing pubHc  morals  —  the  uniformed  or  patrol  force  is  the 
first  line  of  defense.  Its  responsibility  is  the  enforce- 
ment of  laws  and  ordinances  and  the  protection  of  the 
public  against  physical  hazard.  It  preserves  order  on 
the  streets  and  in  public  places,  makes  arrests  for  viola- 
tion of  law.  regulates  traffic,  rescues  lives  endangered,  and 
renders  first  aid  and  assistance  to  persons  who  may  be 
injured  or  ill.  In  addition  it  is  in  respect  to  such  matters 
the  eyes  and  ears  of  the  community.  It  discovers  and 
reports  unsanitary  conditions,  fire  hazards,  defective  pave- 
ments, dangerous  buildings  and  other  situations  to  which 
official  attention  should  be  given. 

Multifarious   as   are   its  duties,   the  uniformed    force 

268 


The  Rank  and  File 

alone  cannot  handle  the  whole  task  of  the  police.  It  is 
not  possible  to  have  uniformed  men  in  a  community  in 
numbers  sufficient  to  guarantee  the  enforcement  of  all 
laws  and  ordinances  or  the  arrest  of  all  criminals.  More- 
over many  violations  of  law  occur  in  places  where  the 
policeman  cannot  readily  go.  It  is  necessary,  therefore, 
to  have  a  second  line  of  defense ^ — a  corps  of  trained  in- 
vestigators or  detectives  —  operating  in  citizens'  dress,  so 
as  to  work  unobserved.  These  officials  are  called  upon 
to  apprehend  lawbreakers  whose  activities  the  uniformed 
force  has  failed  to  suppress.  Inspector  Cornelius  Ca- 
halane  of  the  New  York  force  who  has  contril)uted  in  no 
small  measure  to  a  better  understanding  of  police  work 
expresses  the  relationship  in  the  following  succinct  state- 
ment :  "  The  uniformed  force  is  the  infield  and  the  out- 
field on  the  home  diamond.  The  detective  force  gets 
whatever  the  crooks  bat  over  the  fence.''  ^ 

A  third  line  of  defense  in  the  police  department  is  the 
crime  prevention  service,  consisting  of  miscellaneous 
squads  and  units,  engaged  in  discovering  conditions  that 
produce  crime  and  in  suppressing  ofifenses  against  public 
morals.  Perhaps  a  better  figure  would  be  to  liken  this 
branch  of  the  police  to  the  intelligence  service  of  an 
army.  It  gathers  information  regarding  conditions  to 
be  attacked  by  the  police  department,  which  would  other- 
wise remain  undiscovered.  Its  work  is  always  positive 
and  aggressive. 

While  it  is  possible  to  differentiate  thus  broadly  be- 
tween these  three  main  branches  of  police  organization, 
it  must  be  recognized  that  their  functions  are  not  mutually 

*  Personally  communicated. 

269 


American  Police  Systems 

exclusive.  As  opportunity  arises,  each  section  performs 
work  that  receives  the  special  attention  of  other  sections. 
One  of  the  purposes  of  the  patrol  work  by  the  uniformed 
force  is  the  prevention  of  crime,  and  similarly  the  crime 
prevention  section  is  frequently  engaged  in  the  detection 
of  criminals.  But  in  one  form  or  another,  the  task  of 
every  police  force  involves  these  three  approaches. 

In  maintaining  these  three  approaches,  the  question  of 
tools  is  paramount.  With  what  kind  of  men  are  we  to 
work?  How  are  we  to  get  them?  How  shall  they  be 
trained  ?  How  shall  we  use  them  to  accomplish  the  ends 
of  police  duty?  After  all,  the  heart  of  the  poHce  prob- 
lem is  one  of  personnel,  and  it  is  to  the  many  questions 
involved  in  personnel  management  that  the  next  three 
chapters  are  devoted. 

CivilScrznce  and  the  Police. 

A  rough  classification  of  police  departments  in  the 
United  States  could  be  made  by  dividing  them  into  two 
groups :  those  that  operate  under  civil  service  rules,  and 
those  that  do  not.  Most  of  the  large  forces  in  the  east- 
ern states  and  in  the  far  west  are  now  under  some  form 
of  civil  service.  In  the  south  and  middle  west,  however, 
and  in  some  parts  of  the  northwest,  it  is  possible  to 
find  many  police  departments  to  which  these  principles 
have  never  been  applied.  Some  of  these  departments 
are  large;  many  of  them  are  small.  Of  the  63  cities 
in  the  United  States  having  a  population  of  100,000 
or  over,  ten  have  no  civil  service  system  whatever. 
These  cities  include  Birmingham,  (Ala.),  Indianapolis, 
Kansas   City,   Louisville,    San   Antonio   and    Salt   Lake 

270 


The  Rank  and  File 

City.^  In  a  number  of  other  cities,  such  as  Omaha, 
civil  service  regulations  have  only  partially  been  adopted, 
generally  as  regards  dismissals  rather  than  appointments. 
St.  Paul  and  Minneapolis  have  joined  the  civil  service 
group  within  the  last  few  years.  New  York  City 
adopted  the  civil  service  plan  in  1883,  and  Chicago  fol- 
lowed in  1895. 

On  the  basis  of  this  classification  the  jrcneralization 
easily  follows  that  those  forces  in  which  a  civil  service 
system  is  maintained  are  better  administered  and  better 
managed  than  those  in  which  no  such  system  has  been 
adopted.  The  reason  for  this  is  at  once  apparent. 
Whatever  evil  results  it  may  have  —  and  we  shall  dis- 
cuss some  of  them  later  —  civil  service  tends  to  exclude 
the  political  factors  w^hich  are  peculiarly  characteristic 
of  American  local  government.  Without  civil  service, 
appointments  to  the  police  department  are  generally  a 
matter  of  political  faith,  involving  allegiance  to  the  local 
"  boss  "  and  fidelity  to  the  party  machine.  Consequently, 
in  such  departments,  the  "  toss  "  rather  than  the  com- 
missioner has  the  loyalty  of  the  force,  for  commissioners 
are  temporary  creatures,  birds  of  passage,  subject  to  sud- 
den political  decapitation  and  retirement  to  private  life, 
while  the   "  boss,"   representing  the  permanency  of  the 

1  The  other  four  cities  arc  Bridgeport,  Camden,  Hartford  and 
Reading.  In  addition  to  these  ten  cities,  there  are  three  cities 
in  which  civil  service  is  maintained  in  a  modified  sort  of  way,  ad- 
ministered exchisively  by  police  authorities:  St.  Louis,  Milwaukee 
and  Providence.  In  Baltimore  civil  service  is  administered  by  a 
board  of  police  examiners  apart  from  the  authority  of  the  board  of 
police  commissioners.  In  Washington,  D.  C,  civil  service  is  ad- 
ministered by  the  city  comnn'ssioners  sitting  as  a  board.  Of  the  47 
cities  in  which  civil  service  is  established,  it  is  controlled  by  a 
mtmicipal  civil  service  commission  in  35,  and  by  a  state  civil  service 
commission  in  twelve. 

271 


American  Police  Systems 

party  machine,  is  always  in  a  position  to  provide  "  jobs." 
In  such  departments  the  upset  of  a  party  machine  at 
the  polls  means  thorough  changes  in  the  personnel  of  the 
police  force.  "  It  is  to  be  a  sweeping  housecleaning  of 
everyone  who  ever  smiled  at  a  Republican  commissioner," 
said  the  Kansas  City  Star,^  referring  to  contemplated 
changes  in  the  force  of  Kansas  City  when  the  new 
Major  board  was  appointed  in  19 13.  The  prophecy  was 
true.  Within  a  few  weeks  eighty  Republican  patrolmen 
and  sergeants,  in  addition  to  the  chief  of  police,  had 
been  dropped  and  Democrats  took  their  places.  With 
this  beginning,  the  board  proceeded  leisurely  through 
bureau  after  bureau,  dismissing  the  politically  obnoxious. 
Out  of  two  hundred  Republicans,  only  thirty  were  left. 
Captains  and  lieutenants  were  reduced  to  patrolmen,  and 
the  vacancies  thus  made  were  filled  by  "  good  Major 
men."  By  such  proscriptive  methods  a  "  Democratic 
force  "  was  created  out  of  what  had  been  a  "  Republican 
force."  ^  At  the  time  of  my  visit  to  Kansas  City  it  was 
estimated  that  the  Republicans  constituted  but  five  per 
cent  of  the  entire  department.  "  And  you  bet  they  are 
not  shouting  their  affiliations  from  the  housetops/'  I  was 
told. 

Similarly  in  Indianapolis,  without  the  restraining  in- 
fluence of  a  civil  service  system,  the  force  is  thoroughly 
political.     Indeed   it  is  made  so  by  law.     "  The   force 

1  August  5,  1913.  "  We  are  going  to  exact  the  grandfather  clause. 
Any  man  who  can't  show  that  his  family  has  voted  straight  for 
three  generations  needn't  try  to  borrow  one  of  our  blue  uniforms." 
This  was  the  way  a  Democratic  worker  expressed  his  view  of  the 
situation.     See  Star  for  November  14,  1912. 

^  The  story  of  this  reorganization  of  the  force  can  be  found  in 
the  columns  of  the  Kansas  City  Star  from  June  to  September,  1913. 

272 


The  Rank  and  File 

shall  be  as  nearly  as  possible  equally  divided  politically  " 
—  this  wording  of  the  statute  furnishes  the  guiding  prin- 
ciple of  administration.^  Half  the  force  are  Republi- 
cans and  the  other  half  Democrats,  and  this  division 
runs  through  all  ranks  —  captains,  lieutenants,  sergeants 
and  patrolmen.  If  a  vacancy  occurs  in  any  rank,  due 
to  the  death,  resignation  or  dismissal  of  a  Democrat, 
another  Democrat  is  put  in  his  place.  The  same  is  true 
of  Republicans.  Moreover  an  incoming  administration 
generally  makes  sweeping  changes  in  all  the  higher  ranks. 
Captains  and  lieutenants  are  reduced  to  patrolmen,  and 
their  places  filled  by  those  who,  for  personal  or  political 
reasons,  are  more  acceptable  to  the  appointing  power. 
Xot  infrequentlv  men  are  introduced  into  the  higher 
ranks  without  passing  through  the  lower  grades.  I 
talked  with  a  captain  of  police  in  Indianapolis  who  en- 
tered the  service  as  a  sergeant,  skipping  the  grade  of 
patrolman,  and  was  then  promoted  to  captain,  skipping 
the  grade  of  lieutenant.  Another  officer  whom  I  met 
was  brought  into  the  department  as  a  lieutenant,  never 
having  been  in  police  service  before.  As  long  as  the 
even  balance  is  kept  between  Democrats  and  Republi- 
cans, there  is  nothing  to  prevent  juggling  with  the  per- 
sonnel. 

In  Louisville  largely  similar  conditions  exist,  although 
not  prescribed  by  law.  In  1907  a  Republican  mayor,  un- 
expectedly acceding  to  the  office,  "  tore  the  whole  force 
to  pieces,  putting  in  Republicans  wherever  he  could."  - 
All  the  captains  were  reduced  to  patrolmen,  and  Republi- 

^  Cities  and  To7vits  Act.     Laws  of  Ind..  1905,  Sec.  159. 
2  Personally  communicated. 


American  Police  Systems 

cans  took  their  places,  many  of  them  new  men  without 
previous  police  experience,  appointed  in  a  single  day  up 
through  all  the  ranks.  When  the  Democrats  succeeded 
in  the  following  election,  the  Repul:)lican  policemen  were 
similarly  served.  Again  in  19 17  a  Republican  victory 
at  the  polls  was  followed  by  the  dismissal  of  more  than 
300  policemen  out  of  a  force  of  429.  Not  a  single  officer 
above  the  rank  of  sergeant  survived. 

In  Salt  Lake  City  changes  in  police  personnel  as  the 
result  of  the  accession  of  a  new  city  commissioner  fre- 
quently run  as  high  as  85%.  "  For  the  good  of  the  serv- 
ice "  is  the  brief  formula  used  in  effecting  dismissals. 
In  Birmingham,  Alabama,  there  are  no  requirements  for 
admission  to  the  force,  physical,  mental,  or  otherwise  — 
not  even  a,  standard  of  height.  "  Some  places  need 
small  men,  some  places  don't,"  the  chief  of  police  told 
me.  Conditions  of  this  kind  typify  the  management  of 
the  police  where  a  civil  service  system  is  lacking,  and 
it  is  no  exaggeration  to  say  that  civil  service  stands  be- 
tween the  police  and  utter  demoralization  in  the  cities  of 
the  United  States. 

It  is  at  this  point  that  we  are  confronted  with  an  amaz- 
ing contrast  between  the  police  departments  of  Europe 
and  America.  There  are  no  civil  service  arrangements 
in  European  police  forces.  Discretion  as  regards  ap- 
pointments and  dismissals  is  invariably  lodged  in  the 
commissioner  or  prefect,  or  whatever  title  the  responsi- 
ble head  of  the  force  may  bear.  The  entire  system  rests 
upon  his  judgment.  He  "  hires  and  fires  "  on  the  basis  of 
standards  which  he  himself  creates.  It  is  assumed  that 
politics  and   favoritism  will  play  no  part   in  the  result 

274 


The  Rank  and  File 

because  it  is  taken  for  granted  that  the  commissioner  \vill 
have  a  greater  interest  than  any  one  else  in  securing  and 
maintaining  the  best  possible  personnel.  And  this  as- 
sumption is  well  based.  Politics  has  nothing  whatever 
to  do  with  the  selection  or  dismissal  of  policemen  in 
European  cities.  The  political  opinions  of  members  of 
the  force  cut  no  figure  whatever.  The  conception  of  po- 
licing as  an  essential  and  highly  technical  public  task  to  be 
handled  only  by  trained  and  experienced  men  makes  any 
other  point  of  view  unthinkable  to  the  European,  and 
no  formal  legal  barriers  are  necessary  to  protect  the 
police  department  from  the  spoilsman.* 

With  us,  a  far  lower  standard  prevails.  Ideals  of  pub- 
lic service  such  as  obtain  in  the  cities  of  England  and 
France  seem  to  be  utterly  lacking,  and  we  are  forced  to 
resort  to  law  to  secure  a  measure  of  control  which  in  a 
healthier  political  atmosphere  would  be  furnished  by  pub- 
lic opinion  and  buttressed  by  sound  tradition. 

Ciznl  Service  in  Operation. 

Civil  service  rules  and  practices  bulk  so  large  in  the 
selection,  promotion  and  dismissal  of  police  department 
personnel,  that  more  than  passing  attention  must  be 
given  to  them.  In  most  cities,  indeed,  where  civil  serv- 
ice has  gained  a  foothold,  it  has  literally  taken  over  al- 
most the  entire  problem  of  personnel  management,  in  so 
far  as  it  does  not  relate  to  the  disposition  of  the  forces,  re- 
ducing it  to  a  rigid  and  more  or  less  perfunctory  routine. 

1  For  full  discussion  of  European  methods  in  selecting  policemen 
and  making  promotions  see  European  Police  Systems,  Chapters  VI 
and  VII. 


American  Police  Systems 

in  which  the  police  administrator  himself  has  little  part 
to  play.  The  following  paragraphs  briefly  describe 
its  operation  in  its  three  principal  relations  to  the  police 
department :  appointments,  promotions  and  discipline. 

(a)   Appointments. 

In  most  cities  where  civil  service  is  in  operation  the 
entire  task  of  advertising  for  recruits  and  of  examining 
and  selecting  the  applicants  is  lodged  in  an  independent 
civil  service  commission.  This  commission  establishes 
physical  and  mental  standards  for  entrance  to  the  classi- 
fied service,  of  which  the  police  service  is  but  a  part, 
and  determines  the  eligibility  of  all  applicants  by  means 
of  competitive  or  qualifying  examinations.  On  the  basis 
of  these  examinations  lists  of  eligibles  are  prepared,  from 
which  the  responsible  police  authority  is  obliged  to  make 
a  choice,  generally  in  the  order  in  which  the  names  ap- 
pear on  the  lists. 

The  standards  of  eligibility  and  methods  of  procedure, 
as  well  as  the  schemes  for  marking  and  rating,  vary  in 
minor  details  from  city  to  city,  but  the  general  practices 
are  similar.  The  entrance  examination  is  usually  in  two 
parts :  one,  the  physical  and  medical,  and  the  other  the 
mental,  which  may  be  either  oral  or  written  or  both. 
Provision  is  generally  made,  also,  for  a  character  investi- 
gation, sometimes  conducted  by  agents  of  the  civil  service 
commission  and  sometimes  by  police  officers  working 
under  the  direction  of  the  commission.  Although  this 
phase  of  the  examination  is  of  the  utmost  importance, 
in  too  many  American  cities  it  is  slighted,  if  not  actually 
abused,  and  amounts  to  little  more  than  a  perfunctory 

276 


The  Rank  and  File 

checking  of  the  references  submitted  by  the  appHcant  in 
his  appHcation  blank. ^  In  most  civil  ser\nce  schemes 
the  appointees  serve  a  probationary  period  ranging  from 
three  months  to  a  year,  during  which  they  may  be  dropped 
l)y  authority  of  the  police  head  without  the  usual  pro- 
cedure of  a  trial.  In  many  of  these  cities,  however, 
police  authorities  are  lax  in  making  any  effort  to  measure 
the  work  of  the  probationers.  So  long  as  they  do  not 
commit  any  overt  breach  of  rules  there  is  little  likelihood 
of  failure  to  obtain  permanent  appointment. 

A  notable  contrast  between  American  and  European 
practice  is  found  in  the  requirement,  uniformly  in  vogue 
in  the  cities  of  the  United  States,  of  a  residence  qualifi- 
cation in  the  selection  of  policemen.  That  is,  an  appli- 
cant for  appointment  as  patrolman  must  have  been  a 
resident  of  the  city  in  w^hich  service  is  sought  for  a  speci- 
fied period  immediately  preceding  the  date  of  his  appli- 
cation. In  San  Francisco  and  Oakland,  California,  five 
years  is  the  residence  requirement ;  in  St.  Louis  four 
years;  in  Buffalo,  Rochester,  Newark,  New  Orleans  and 
Washington,  D.  C.  two  years;  in  Cleveland,  Boston  and 
Pittsburg,  six  months,  although  in  the  last  tw'o  cities  a 
year's  residence  in  the  state  is  required.  In  St.  Louis, 
Xew  Orleans  and  a  few  other  cities  the  further  recjuire- 
ment  is  made  that  applicants  must  be  qualified  voters.  In 
Europe,  on  the  other  hand,  notably  in  Great  Britain, 
every  endeavor  is  made  to  secure  policemen  from  outside 
the  cummiuiitv  in  wliich  they  are  to  serve.     Of  the  Lon- 

^  For  a  discussion  of  the  technique  of  conducting  civil  service  ex- 
aminations for  police  service,  see  Fuld's  Police  Administration,  New 
York,  I  QIC. 

277 


American  Police  Systems 

don  policemen  only  a  small  proportion  come  from  Lon- 
don, and  the  same  condition  is  true  in  the  provincial  cities 
of  England  and  Wales.  These  communities  do  not  care 
to  have  on  their  forces  policemen  with  local  ties  and  con- 
nections. One-fourth  of  the  municipalities  in  England 
refuse  to  accept  men  on  their  constabularies  who  for  any 
length  of  time  have  lived  in  their  cities,  and  the  rural  dis- 
tricts are  searched  to  provide  available  material. 
"  Straight  from  the  plow  "  is  the  motto  of  the  recruiting 
agents  who  are  constantly  traveling  from  place  to  place 
in  the  country  districts  of  Great  Britain  looking  for  avail- 
able constables.^ 

In  America,  there  is  no  policy  in  regard  to  what  occu- 
pations shall  be  preferred  or  what  experience  is  neces- 
sary as  a  training  for  policemen.  Civil  service  stand- 
ardizes everything.  Whoever  presents  himself  and  meets 
the  published  requirements  is  welcome  to  compete  in  ex- 
amination. An  analysis  of  the  previous  occupations  of 
219  policemen  appointed  to  the  New  York  department 
in  1 91 6,  made  from  the  records  of  the  police  training 
school  for  recruits,  showed  the  largest  number  to  have 
been  clerks,  of  whom  there  were  39 ;  general  workers  and 
laborers  came  next  with  28;  drivers  and  chauffeurs  num- 
bered 27;  plumbers,  gas  and  steam  fitters  21;  motormen 
and  conductors  12.^  A  similar  analysis  made  in  19 12  by 
the  Bureau  of  Municipal  Research  showed  that  out  of 
42  recruits  who  had  held  one  position  for  five  years  or 
more  previous  to  entering  the  police  department,  twelve 

1  For  detailed  analysis  of  methods  of  recruiting  in  England,  see 
European  Police  Systems,  Chapter  VI. 
-  Personal  investigation. 

278 


The  Rank  and  File 

had  been  drivers,  six  clerks,  three  butchers,  three  plumb- 
ers, the  remaining  eighteen  falling  in  classifications  of 
less  than  three  each.^  These  figures  represent  fairly  well 
the  sources  of  recruits  in  other  American  cities. 

(b)   Promotions. 

Promotions  to  all  ranks  of  the  uniformed  force  ex- 
cept the  rank  of  chief  -  are  made  through  the  instrumen- 
tality of  civil  service  examinations  in  Chicago,  Cleveland, 
Baltimore,  San  Francisco,  Cincinnati,  Los  Angeles  and 
other  cities.  In  Newark  and  Jersey  City  the  civil 
service  system  for  promotions  includes  the  rank  of  chief 
of  police.  In  New  York  promotions  are  made  by  civil 
service  examination  to  the  ranks  of  sergeant,  lieutenant 
and  captain,  while  the  ranks  of  inspector  of  police  and 
chief  inspector  are  not  included  in  the  classified  service. 
Similarly  in  St.  Louis,  Boston,  ^Milwaukee  and  Pittsburgh 
the  civil  service  is  used  for  promotion  to  the  ranks  of  ser- 
geant and  lieutenant  only.  In  Detroit  and  New  Orleans 
the  civil  service  system  has  nothing  to  do  with  promo- 
tions.^ 

Civil  service  laws  in  all  cities  provide  of  course  that 
promotion  shall  be  effected  through  successive  ranks  and 
generally  the  examinations  are  open  only  to  those  who 

1  These  figures  are  to  be  found  in  the  Report  of  the  Special  Com- 
mittee (Curran)  of  the  New  York  Board  of  Aldermen  to  investi- 
gate the  Police  Department,   1912. 

-  The  title  is  superintendent  in  Chicago  and  marshal  of  police  in 
Baltimore. 

•*  In  Detroit  examinations  for  promotion  to  the  various  ranks  in 
the  uniformed  force  are  conducted  by  a  board  of  promotions,  com- 
posed of  the  superintendent,  assistant  superintendent  and  chief  in- 
spector. On  ihe  basis  of  these  examinations  the  board  makes  recom- 
mendations to  the  police  commissioner. 

279 


American  Police  Systems 

have  served  in  the  next  lower  grade  for  a  specified  period 
of  time.  The  time  which  a  patrolman  must  serve  before 
he  is  eligible  to  compete  in  an  examination  for  promotion 
to  a  sergeantcy  varies  from  five  years  in  New  York  City 
to  six  months  in  Philadelphia,  Boston,  Buffalo  and  Min- 
neapolis.^ 'Before  a.  sergeant  is  eligible  for  promotion 
to  the  rank  of  lieutenant  he  must  have  served  as  a  ser- 
geant for  a  period  of  from  six  months  to  three  years. ^ 

The  mental  examination,  usually  written,  is  the  chief 
factor  in  determining  a  candidate's  standing  on  the  list 
of  eligibles  for  promotion.  In  most  cities  seniority  in 
service  is  also  given  a  specific  weight  in  the  examina- 
tion. Physical  tests  are  rated  on  a  competitive  basis  in 
Chicago,  St.  Louis,  Los  Angeles  and  Seattle,  but  in  most 
cities  they  are  employed  merely  to  establish  a  qualifying 
standard  of  health  and  soundness  in  physical  condition. 
Another  factor  commonly  employed  in  promotions  is  the 
efficiency  or  merit  test  as  it  is  generally  called.  This  is 
supposedly  based  on  an  efficiency  record  system  which 
under  most  civil  service  regulations  is  kept  for  each  mem- 
ber of  the  police  force.  These  records  are  usually  nega- 
tive in  that  they  show  only  demerits  for  infractions  of 
rules  or  neglect  of  duty.  In  no  city  in  the  United  States 
is  there  a  real  efficiency  record  system  which  gives  syste- 
matic credit  for  the  accomplishment  of  good  every-day 
police  work.     Wherever  a  thorough  going  efficiency  rec- 

1  The  period  is  four  years  in  Chicago  and  Los  Angeles ;  three  years 
in  St.  Louis,  Cleveland  and  Cincinnati;  two  years  in  Milwaukee; 
one  year  in  Newark,  Seattle  and  Jersey  City. 

2  The  period  is  three  years  in  Milwaukee;  two  years  in  New  York, 
Cleveland,  Los  Angeles  and  Cincinnati ;  one  year  in  Chicago,  St. 
Louis,  Newark,  Seattle  and  Jersey  City;  six  months  in  Philadelphia, 
Boston,  Buffalo  and  Minneapolis. 

280 


The  Rank  and  Ffle 

ord  system  has  been  attempted,  to  record  currently  the 
positive  factors  of  a  man's  work,  it  has  fallen  into  disuse 
or  has  been  carelessly  kept  after  an  initial  trial. ^ 

After  the  examinations  are  completed  and  the  men  are 
listed  in  the  order  in  which  they  ha\e  passed,  the  appoint- 
ing authority  in  the  police  department  is  generally  given 
the  opportunity  of  selecting  for  each  promotion  one  out 
of  every  three  names  presented  to  him  from  the  head  of 
the  list.  This  is  true  in  New  York,  Chicago,  Cleveland, 
Pittsburgh,  Buffalo,  San  Francisco,  Los  Angeles,  New- 
ark, Seattle  and  Jersey  City.  In  Philadelphia  the  ap- 
pointing authority  may  select  one  out  of  four  eligibles. 
Selections  may  be  made  from  any  place  on  the  list  of 
eligibles  in  St.  Louis,  Boston  and  Milwaukee.  In  Balti- 
more, Cincinnati  and  Minneapolis,  it  is  the  practice  to  fill 
vacancies  only  from  the  names  that  appear  at  the  head  of 
the  list  of  eligibles. 

(c)  Discipline. 

Civil  service  laws  and  regulations  have  gone  to  ex- 
treme lengths  in  the  United  States  in  safeguarding  po- 
licemen against  unjust  disciplinary  action.  In  some 
cities  the  civil  service  commission  itself  assumes  sole  re- 

1  The  most  noteworthy  attempt  to  establish  an  efficiency  record 
system  was  in  New  York  under  the  regime  of  Commissioner  Woods. 
The  scheme  was  dropped  by  his  successor.  The  writer  has  seen  in 
some  police  departments  a  so-called  efficiency  record  system  in 
which  the  same  rating,  i.  e.  excelleytt,  was  given  to  every  member  of 
the  force  from  the  chief  of  police  down  to  the  newest  patrolman. 
The  objections  which  one  encounters  to  rating  efficiency  by  a  system 
of  markings  are,  first,  that  under  such  a  system  there  is  not  an 
equal  opportunity  between  men  on  busy  and  those  on  quiet  posts  to 
make  arrests  and  perform  acts  of  meritorious  service,  and  second, 
that  favoritism  may  influence  a  commanding  officer  in  grading  his 
subordinates  in  the  matter  of  general  qualifications. 

281 


American  Police  Systems 

sponsibility  for  discipline;  in  others,  the  commission  has 
the  right  to  review  the  action  of  the  poHce  administrative 
authority,  and  may  order  reinstatement  in  case  of  dis- 
missals, or  lesser  penalties  than  those  imposed.^  In  most 
police  departments  when  disciplinary  action  is  taken, 
charges  must  be  preferred  in  writing  and  the  case  sub- 
mitted for  trial.  The  trial  may  be  conducted  along  the 
lines  of  a  criminal  proceeding  as  in  New  York  with  due 
regard  for  legal  rules  of  evidence  and  all  the  technicalities 
of  regular  court  procedure,  or  it  may  be  a  more  or  less 
formal  method  observed  by  an  administrative  officer  in 
enforcing  discipline.  The  various  practices  that  are  em- 
ployed differ  from  city  to  city,  and  there  is  no  stand- 
ardized arrangement. 

The  trial  system  of  New  York  City  is  the  most  elab- 
orate and  the  most  completely  judicial  in  character  of  any 
city  in  the  United  States.  Minor  derelictions  may  be  dis- 
posed of  by  inspectors  of  police  without  submitting  the 
cases  to  formal  trial,  but  charges  involving  more  serious 
offences  must  be  preferred  in  writing  by  a  commanding 
officer  and  are  tried  before  the  police  commissioner  or  one 
of  his  deputies.  The  accused  member  is  permitted  to  be 
represented  by  counsel,  and  may  take  an  appeal  to  the 
courts  through  certiorari  or  mandamus  proceedings 
against  the  decision  of  the  police  commissioner.^ 

1  Extensive  powers  of  review  over  the  disciplinary  actions  of  the 
police  administrative  authorities  are  granted  the  civil  service  com- 
missions in  the  large  cities  of  Ohio  and  New  Jersey,  and  in  Chicago, 
Pittsburgh,  Philadelphia,  San  Francisco,  Seattle,  Portland  (Ore.) 
and  others.  Under  commission  government  in  Omaha  and  Memphis 
a  member  of  the  police  force  who  has  been  removed  from  office  may 
appeal  to  the  whole  city  commission. 

-  The  judicial  appeal  is  employed  in  varying  degrees  of  frequency 
in  the  cities  of  New  York  and  Massachusetts,  with  the  exception  of 

282 


The  Rank  and  File 

In  Chicago  minor  charges  are  handled  by  the  superin- 
tendent of  poHce  but  serious  offences  involving  dismissal 
are  tried  by  the  civil  service  commission.  Judgment  is 
rendered  by  the  commission  and  the  superintendent  is 
obliged  to  enforce  it.  In  Philadelphia  under  the  new 
charter  similar  conditions  obtain.  The  civil  service  com- 
mission is  given  full  authority  to  "  hear,  investigate  and 
determine"  all  charges  against  policemen  which,  if  sub- 
stantiated, would  constitute  cause  for  discharge  from  the 
service.  "  The  finding  and  decision  of  the  commission 
.  .  .  shall  be  certified  to  the  appointing  authority  and  shall 
be  forthwith  enforced  by  such  authority."  Even  suspen- 
sion from  duty  by  superior  police  officers  is  subject  to  the 
review  of  the  commission,  which  in  case  of  disapproval 
has  the  power  "  to  restore  pay  to  the  employee  so  sus- 
pended." ^ 

In  Cleveland  disciplinary  action  involving  removals  by 
the  director  of  public  safety  is  subject  to  review  by  the 
municipal  civil  service  commission  which  may  "  affirm, 
disaffirm,  or  modify  the  judgment  of  the  director  of  pub- 
lic safety  and  its  judgment  in  the  matter  shall  be  final."  - 
In  some  southern  cities,  notably  Augusta,  Athens,  and 
Macon,  Ga.,  civil  service  ideas  are  carried  to  such  an  ex- 
treme that  the  commission  is  the  sole  administrative  head 
of  the  police  department  as  regards  all  matters  of  disci- 
pline,   while  the  chief   of   police  is   little   more   than   a 

Boston  ;  in  Philadelphia,  St.  Louis,  Chicago,  St.  Paul  and  Milwaukee. 
In  some  jurisdictions  the  courts  have  held  that  their  review  is  limited 
to  questions  of  law,  while  in  others,  notably  in  New  York,  the  courts 
consider  questions  of  fact  as  well  as  of  law,  and  pass  upon  the 
adequacy  both  of  the  charges  and  the  procedure. 

1  Charter  adopted  June,   1919,  Article  XIX  Sec.   18. 

2  Cleveland  charter  Sec.  no. 

283 


American  Police  Systems 

dummy,  robbed  of  all  power  of  initiative  and  leadership. 
In  Boston  the  law  provides  for  a  trial  board  composed 
of  three  captains.  The  personnel  of  the  board  may  be 
changed  at  the  will  of  the  commissioner  who  may  also 
set  aside  its  findings  and  order  a  re-hearing  before  the 
same  or  another  board.  The  action  of  the  commissioner 
is  absolutely  final,  and  in  this  respect  Boston  affords  the 
most  complete  centralization  of  responsibility  for  dis- 
ciplinary action  of  any  city  in  the  United  States. 

The  Limitations  of  Civil  Service. 

In  its  application  to  a  police  department  civil  service 
has  serious  limitations.  In  the  endeavor  to  guard  against 
abuse  of  authority,  it  frequently  is  carried  to  such  ex- 
tremes that  rigidity  takes  the  place  of  flexibility  in  admin- 
istration, and  initiative  in  effecting  essential  changes  in 
personnel  is  crippled  and  destroyed.  Too  often,  as  we 
have  already  seen  in  connection  with  the  chiefs  of  police, 
civil  service  is  a  bulwark  for  neglect  and  incompetence, 
and  one  of  the  prime  causes  of  departmental  disorganiza- 
tion. Too  often  does  the  attempt  to  protect  the  force 
against  the  capricious  play  of  politics  compromise  the 
principle  of  responsible  leadership,  so  that  in  trying  to 
nullify  the  effects  of  incompetence  and  favoritism,  we 
nullify  capacity  and  intelligence  too. 

The  extensive  powers  of  civil  service  commissions 
which  we  have  cited  above  constitute  in  themselves  ample 
evidence  of  this  situation.  The  arrangements  in  Chicago 
and  Philadelphia,  for  example,  by  which  the  members  of 
the  force  are  answerable  to  an  independent  body  having 
no  responsibility  for  their  work  and  no  direct  concern 

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for  the  morale  of  the  deparlnicnt.  result  inevitably  in 
divided  leadership  and  demoralization.  Similar  conse- 
quences can  be  expected  when  the  disciplinary  acts  of  a 
police  executive  can  be  overturned  on  appeal  to  a  civil 
service  commission  or  other  hi.s:her  authority.  The  un- 
certainty of  punishment,  the  incidental  delay,  and  the 
loss  of  respect  for  the  nominal  police  head  on  the  part  of 
liis  subordinates  —  such  factors  as  these  go  far  to  out- 
weigh the  value  of  the  protection  against  the  play  of  poli- 
tics which  such  a  system  affords. 

As  a  result  of  this  divided  responsibility  between  police 
executives  and  civil  service  commissions,  there  are  in 
most  large  departments  many  men  whose  continuance 
in  office  is  a  menace  to  the  force  and  to  the  community, 
but  Avho  cannot  be  dismissed  because  the  proof  of  in- 
competence or  dishonesty  does  not  satisfy  the  require- 
ments of  the  civil  service  law.  In  city  after  city 
commissioners  and  chiefs  will  freely  admit  that  certain 
of  their  officers  or  men  are  "  crooked."  "  But  what  can 
\ve  do  ?  "  they  say,  "  we  can't  prove  it."  One  has  only  to 
sit  with  police  trial  boards  or  tribunals  in  cities  like  Phil- 
adelphia, Chicago  or  New  York  to  realize  that  the  forces 
contain  not  a  few  unfit,  shiftless  and  dishonest  employees, 
who  would  be  summarily  dismissed  by  an  energetic  ad- 
ministrator endowed  with  adequate  authority.  Certainly 
no  business  man  would  attempt  to  conduct  a  private  busi- 
ness with  such  a  personnel.  He  would  be  foredoomed 
to  failure  from  the  start. 

Consequently  police  administrators  are  forced  to  resort 
to  such  pitiful  makeshifts  as  "  transfers  ''  in  order  to  cir- 
cumvent the  recognized  dishonesty  or  incompetence  of 

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their  subordinates.  A  man  is  shifted  to  a  precinct  or 
post  where  he  will  have  the  smallest  possible  scope  for 
mischief.  Instead  of  devoting  their  energies  to  the  posi- 
tive task  of  building  up  their  forces  with  the  best  per- 
sonnel obtainable,  our  police  heads  devote  themselves 
to  the  negative  duty  of  guarding  their  departments  from 
ship-wreck  at  the  hands  of  subordinates  through  whom 
they  are  forced  to  carry  on  their  work.  Commissioner 
Woods  of  New  York,  as  well  as  many  of  his  predeces- 
sors, was  constantly  obliged  to  shift  from  one  post  to 
another  men  whose  utter  uselessness  and  at  times  dis- 
honesty were  known  to  the  whole  force.  In  Philadelphia 
a  former  director  of  public  safety  told  me  that  although 
during  his  incumbency  he  knew  that  most  of  his  de- 
tectives were  "  crooked,"  he  was  able  to  get  rid  of  but 
one  —  and  that  was  a  man  caught  red-handed  while 
stealing  five  dollars  from  a  fellow  detective  who  lay 
asleep  in  the  dormitory. 

Often  such  situations  as  these  are  due  not  only  to  an 
inability  to  secure  the  necessary  legal  proof  of  delinquency, 
but  to  the  conflict  which  constantly  arises  between  police 
executives  and  the  higher  appellate  authorities.  The  rec- 
ords of  police  departments  are  full  of  cases  where  the 
officials  have  sought  in  vain  to  punish  delinquent  members 
against  determined  opposition  from  above.  The  follow- 
ing disciplinary  record  of  a  member  of  the  force  in  Pitts- 
burg speaks  for  itself. 

"  Drunkenness,  fined  $5.  Under  influence  of  liquor 
while  on  duty,  second  offense,  discharged — subse- 
quently reinstated.     Under  the  influence  of  liquor  on 

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duty,  third  offense,  fined  $io.  Neglect  of  duty,  fourth 
offense,  under  the  influence  of  hquor,  discharged  — 
subsequently  reinstated.  Drunk  on  duty,  fifth  offense, 
discharged  —  subsequently  reinstated.  Visiting  saloon 
in  uniform,  sixth  offense,  discharged  —  subsequently 
reinstated.  Drunkenness,  seventh  offense,  fined  $25. 
Eighth  offense,  fined  $25  and  transferred.  Ninth  of- 
fense, suspended  for  three  months.  Intoxication,  tenth 
offense,  suspended  for  thirty  days.  Drunkenness, 
eleventh  offense,  no  record  of  punishment."  ^ 

A  record  such  as  this  can  be  duplicated  in  many  cities 
throughout  the  country.  In  Chicago  indeed,  where  the 
civil  service  conmiission  has  the  power  to  reinstate,  with- 
out the  approval  of  the  superintendent,  men  previously 
dismissed  from  service,  conditions  bordering  on  chaos 
have  not  infrequently  resulted.  Often  this  power  is 
viciously  abused  and  men  are  put  back  on  the  force  after 
being  dismissed  for  offenses  which  would  have  landed 
them  in  the  penitentiary,  had  they  been  tried  in  a  crim- 
inal court.-  Thus  two  officers  who  accepted  a  bribe  to 
drop  a  case  against  a  chauft"eur  were  dismissed  in  Febni- 
ary,  1914,  and  reinstated  in  May,  1914.  Another  officer 
who,  on  evidence  furnished  by  the  police  themselves, 
was  discharged  for  accepting  a  bribe  from  a  prostitute, 
was  reinstated  a  year  later  by  a  civil  service  commission 
newly  appointed.  Still  another  officer,  discharged  for 
operating  a  taxicab  business  which  incidentally  catered  to 

1  This  record  is  among  those  given  in  "  The  City  of  Pittsburgh, 
Penn :  Report  on  a  Survey  of  the  Department  of  Public  Safety 
made  by  the  New  York  Bureau  of  Municipal   Research."     (1913) 

-  For  full  discussion  of  this  point  sec  Report  of  the  City  Council 
Committee  on  Crime,  Chicago,  March  1915,  p.  174  flF. 

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American  Police  Systems 

houses  of  prostitution,  was  reinstated  by  the  commission 
and  was  a  sergeant  of  poHce  at  the  time  of  my  visit.  It 
must  be  recognized  that  bias  and  favoritism  may  influ- 
ence a  politically  appointed  civil  service  commission  quite 
as  much  as  it  may  influence  the  head  of  a  police  depart- 
ment. Certainly  under  such  a  system  as  Chicago  pos- 
sesses, the  allocation  of  definite  responsibility  and  the  op- 
portunity for  positive  leadership  are  alike  impossible. 

Judicial  appeals  against  the  disciplinary  actions  of  police 
executives  have  led  to  situations  almost  equally  demoral- 
izing. In  the  fourteen  years  from  1899  to  191 3,  683 
proceedings  were  brought  in  the  courts  of  New  York 
against  the  police  commissioners  of  New  York  City  to 
compel  the  reinstatement  of  men  dismissed  for  cause. 
Reversal  or  modification  of  the  commissioner's  deter- 
mination resulted  in  46  cases.  Of  the  46  cases,  26  were 
decided  against  the  department  because  in  the  judgment 
of  the  court  the  commissioner  had  decided  contrary  to 
the  weight  of  evidence ;  nineteen  were  decided  against  the 
department  because  of  what  were  called  serious  defects 
in  procedure;  one  case  was  decided  against  the  depart- 
ment on  both  grounds.^ 

Two  recent  cases  of  the  dismissal  of  captains  of  police 
in  New  York  illustrate  the  point.  After  trial  before  the 
police  commissioner,  one  captain  was  found  guilty  of 
accepting  a  bribe  for  the  protection  of  a  person  charged 
with  the  illegal  sale  of  liquor.     The  charge  was  sustained 

1  See  Report  of  New  York  Aldermanic  Committee  on  Police  In- 
vestigation, 1912.  Similarly,  during  the  three  years  from  1914  to 
igi6  inclusive,  134  members  were  dismissed  from  the  New  York 
department.  Of  this  number,  49  obtained  writs  of  certiorai,  and 
eight  of  these  were  reinstated.  (From  the  records  of  the  depart- 
ment.) 

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on  the  testimony  of  a  patrolman  Avho  liatl  been  involved 
in  the  case.  In  the  court's  review,  the  question  turned 
upon  the  veracity  of  the  officer  dismissed  as  against  that 
of  his  accuser,  and  it  was  held  that  the  evidence  brought 
forward  by  this  single  accuser  was  insufficient  to  justify 
the  finding  of  guilt.-'  Similarly  in  another  case,  dis- 
missal was  ordered  on  the  ground  that  the  officer  had  been 
guilty  of  making  an  improper  entry  in  the  station  house 
blotter,  and  that  a  belated  explanation  of  the  circumstance 
amounted  to  false  testimony.  The  court  gave  weight  to 
the  belated  explanation,  and  holding  that  it  was  reason- 
able to  believe  that  the  officer  had  made  an  honest  mis- 
take, ordered  his  reinstatement. - 

The  unrestricted  right  of  appeal  to  the  courts  from 
the  decision  of  a  police  administrator  is  a  menace  to  the 
proper  exercise  of  discipline.  The  police  executive  can- 
not manage  his  department  according  to  his  knowledge 
and  experience.  He  is  forced  into  a  position  which 
would  min  the  management  of  any  private  business,  and 
which  no  European  police  administrator  would  tolerate 
for  a  moment. 

But  the  shortcomings  of  civil  service  regulations  in 
the  police  department  are  not  confined  to  questions  of 
discipline.  Tn  the  matter  of  promotions  their  defects  are 
almost  equallv  obvious.  "  Civil  service  examinations," 
said  Arthur  Woods  of  New  York,  "  even  when  conducted 
with  intelligence  and  integrity,  are  not  successful  in  put- 
ting at  the  top  of  the  list  the  men  who  have  done  the  best 
work.  Promotion,  therefore,  which  is  so^desirable  to  a 
policeman,  is  looked  upon  as  something  unconnected  with 
1  169  App.  Div.  146.  -  171  .'\i)p.  Div.  684. 

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American  Police  Systems 

his  success  in  performing  his  duty  day  by  day."  ^  One 
gathers  this  idea  in  every  city  where  civil  service  is  closely 
interwoven  in  the  police  department.  The  civil  service 
standard  gives  the  impression  of  being  an  outside  stand- 
ard, ill-adapted  to  the  needs  or  merits  of  the  police  force. 
It  ranks  symmetry  above  real  efificiency.  It  exercises 
its  judgments  from  long  range,  and  such  external  factors 
as  seniority  and  the  ability  to  answer  written  questions 
fluently  must  necessarily  play  a  determining  part. 

Stephen  O'Meara,  who  for  many  years  served  cred- 
itably as  police  commissioner  of  Boston,  defined  the  sit- 
uation as  follows :  "  No  written  examination  can  pos- 
sibly disclose  the  qualities  and  habits  which  are  of  vital 
importance  in  a  police  officer  of  rank  and  can  be  known 
only  to  his  superiors.  Among  them  are  judgment,  cool- 
ness, moral  as  well  as  physical  courage,  executive  ability, 
capacity  for  the  command  of  men,  sobriety  and  other 
moral  qualities,  standing  among  his  associates  and  in  the 
community,  powers  of  initiative,  temper,  integrity,  en- 
ergy, courtesy."  ^     Theodore  Roosevelt  in  his  Autobiog- 

''^  Proceedings  of  the  Academy  of  Political  Science,  April,  1915. 

2  From  a  private  memorandum  which  he  gave  me.  In  a  letter  to 
the  Civil  Service  Commission  dated  February  12,  1913,  he  made  the 
following  interesting  statement :  "  Length  of  service  as  a  patrolman 
beyond  a  reasonable  minimum  should  have  no  influence  in  promoting 
before  a  fit  man,  as  sergeant,  a  man  who  is  less  fit.  When  two  men 
appear  to  be  equally  qualified  the  senior  should  have  the  preference 
again  up  to  a  reasonable  age  maximum,  beyond  which  age  becomes 
a  disqualification.  But  neither  this  minimum  of  service  nor  maxi- 
mum of  age  can  be  made  an  official  fixture  without  risking  the  loss 
from  time  to  time  of  individual  sergeants  of  especial  merit. 

"  For  promotion  from  sergeant  to  lieutenant  or  lieutenant  to 
captain  all  rules  as  to  length  of  service  in  the  force  or  in  the  old 
grade  fail.  An  exceptionally  able  sergeant  may  well  be  made  a 
lieutenant  after  a  comparatively  short  service  as  sergeant,  even  if 
for  no  other  reason  than  the  necessity  for  bringing  forward  men 
who  may  later  be  made  captains  while  still  in  their  prime.  ...  In 

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raphy  expressed  himself  in  similar  vein.  "  I  absolutely 
split  off  from  the  bulk  of  my  professional  Civil  Service 
Reform  friends  when  they  advocated  written  competitive 
examinations  for  promotion.  In  the  police  department  I 
found  these  examinations  a  serious  handicap  in  the  way 
of  getting  the  best  men  promoted,  and  never  in  any  office 
did  I  find  that  the  written  competitive  promotion  exam- 
ination did  any  good.  The  reason  for  a  written  competi- 
tive entrance  examination  is  that  it  is  impossible  for  the 
head  of  the  office,  or  the  candidate's  prospective  immediate 
superior,  himself  to  know  the  average  candidate  or  to 
test  his  ability.  But  when  once  in  office  the  best  way  to 
test  any  man's  ability  is  by  long  experience  in  seeing  him 
actually  at  work.  His  promotion  should  depend  upon  the 
judgment  formed  of  him  by  his  superiors."  ^ 

A  Rational  Civil  Scrz'icc. 

Civil  service  ideas  have  been  pushed  much  too  far. 
They  have  undermined  the  whole  principle  of  responsible 
leadership.  They  have  tied  up  great  police  forces  like 
Chicago's  and  Philadelphia's  almost  beyond  hope  of  re- 
organization. Indeed  in  these  two  cities  and  in  not  a  few 
others  there  is  little  chance  of  sound  conditions  or  effec- 
tive work  in  the  police  department  until  some  strong 
executive,  freed  from  civil  service  entanglements,  is  al- 
lowed to  sweep  out  the  undesirable  personnel.  It  some- 
times seems  doubtful  whether  these  departments  can  be 

the  promotion  of  a  lieutenant  to  be  a  captain  in  command  of  a 
division  with  from  60  to  120  men  under  him  and  serving  the  varied 
interests  of  communities  with  populations  running  as  high  as  100.000, 
length  of  service  in  the  case  of  officers  who  are  conspicuously  fit 
should  have  no  weight  whatever.".  .  . 
1  Autobiography,  p.   161. 

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American  Police  Systems 

completely  resuscitated  if  they  are  not  started  afresh. 
The  extremely  able  performance  of  the  new  police  force  in 
Boston  is  a  promise  of  what  could  be  obtained  in  Pitts- 
burgh and  Chicago  if  the  present  civil  service  regulations 
could  be  at  least  temporarily  loosened  and  faith  imposed 
in  an  honest  executive. 

A  far  better  balance  between  civil  service  protection 
and  effective  leadership  can  be  achieved  than  has  been 
reached  up  to  the  present.  In  our  endeavors  to  eliminate 
the  spoils  system  we  have  swung  too  far  toward  rigidity, 
and  a  rational  approach  is  needed  to  a  compromise  which 
will  protect  the  police  force  from  the  politician  without 
robbing  the  police  executive  of  initiative  and  leadership. 
Is  such  a  compromise  possible? 

In  the  first  place,  it  is  doubtful  whether  any  change  is 
desirable  in  the  present  civil  service  practice  as  far  as 
appointments  to  the  force  are  concerned.  Civil  service 
provisions  have  done  a  great  deal  to  raise  the  standards  of 
eligibility  and  eliminate  the  unfit.  Moreover  they  relieve 
the  police  administrator  of  a  vast  burden  of  detail.  His 
whole  concern  is  to  secure  raw  material  of  a  kind  that 
can  be  turned  into  honest  and  intelligent  policemen,  and 
any  plan  or  machinery  which  will  produce  this  material 
upon  demand  adds  to  the  effectiveness  of  his  administra- 
tion. Arthur  Woods  of  New  York,  who  cannot  be 
charged  with  being  over-friendly  to  civil  service,  defines 
its  application  to  the  problem  of  police  appointments  as 
follows :  "  It  is  undoubtedly  about  as  good  a  method  as 
any  other  for  picking  out  qualified  candidates,  for  the 
men  come  from  all  walks  of  life,  and  seemingly  from 
every  profession,  trade,  and  job  th^e  is.     No  compara- 

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The  Rank  and  File 

tive  record  could  be  obtained,  nor  could  the  judgment  of 
employers  fairly  be  used  to  distinguish  between  one  man 
and  another,  since  there  might  be  a  thousand  different  em- 
ployers for  a  thousand  applicants,  and  as  many  varying 
standards  as  employers."  * 

If,  therefore,  civil  service  could  be  looked  upon  as  ma- 
chinery for  furnishing  raw  material,  and  if  the  police 
executive  had  the  unchallenged  right  to  reject,  after  pro- 
bation, any  candidates  who  proved  unsatisfactory,  there 
would  be  little  in  this  phase  of  activity  which  could  in- 
terfere with  the  principle  of  responsible  leadership.  It 
might  be  added,  in  this  connection,  that  the  civil  service 
commission  should  be  free  to  select  the  best  material 
available  wherever  it  could  be  found,  regardless  of  resi- 
dence or  any  other  factor. 

The  question  of  promotion,  however,  furnishes  a  far 
different  problem,  and  it  is  doubtful  whether  civil  service 
has  any  proper  relation  to  it  except  to  assist  the  police 
administrator,  perhaps,  in  passing  upon  the  qualifications 
of  those  whose  work  and  record  seem  to  guarantee  their 
fitness  for  higher  positions.  Certainly  the  civil  service 
cannot  of  itself  determine  these  qualifications.  No  writ- 
ten examinations,  set  by  an  external  body,  can  possibly 
distinguish  between  faithfulness  and  unfaithfulness,  be- 
tween honesty  and  dishonesty,  or  between  workers  and 
shirkers. 

The  Boston  plan  of  non-competitive  examination  for 
promotion,  which  was  in  effect  for  nearly  26  years  prior 
to  191 9,  seems  to  be  best  adapted  to  the  difficulty.  Under 
this  system  the  police  commissioner  of  Boston  determined 

'^Policeman  and  Public,  New  Haven,  1919,  p.  107. 


American  Police  Systems 

for  himself  which  of  his  men  were  deserving  of  promo- 
tion. The  names  of  these  men  were  sent  to  the  civil 
service  commission  which  thereupon  gave  them  a  quali- 
fying, non-competitive  examination  to  test  their  general 
capacity.  In  other  words,  the  official  responsible  for  the 
administration  of  the  police  department  nominated  men 
of  long  service  in  whose  character  and  efficiency  he  had 
complete  confidence,  and  the  civil  service  commission 
subjected  them  to  further  tests,  educational  or  practical, 
written  or  oral,  as  they  chose.  The  candidates  who  satis- 
fied the  civil  service  commission  were  eligible  for  promo- 
tion, but  the  police  commissioner  was  free  to  make  his 
own  choices  from  the  list.  Those  candidates  who  did 
not  satisfy  the  civil  service  commission  could  not  be 
promoted.^ 

1  Commissioner  O'Meara  in  a  memorandum  dated  May  ig,  1913, 
described  the  detail  of  the  arrangement:  "  Under  the  present  system 
the  first  step  when  a  new  list  of  sergeants  is  needed  is  to  note  the 
divisions  which  have  been  longest  without  a  promotion  to  sergeant, 
for  although  the  smaller  and  less  active  divisions  cannot  expect  to 
receive  as  many  promotions  as  those  larger  and  busier,  all  divisions 
should  be  kept  in  mind. 

"  The  commissioner  then  decides  upon  the  divisions  where  promo- 
tions should  be  made.  The  captains  of  these  divisions  are  instructed 
to  write  with  their  own  hands,  neither  informing  nor  consulting  any 
other  person,  and  to  forward  under  seal  to  the  Commissioner  the 
names  of  the  patrolmen  under  them  whom  they  regard  on  the  whole 
as  most  deserving  and  most  likely  to  succeed  as  sergeants  —  each 
captain  to  send  twice  as  many  names  as  it  was  intended  should  go 
upon  the  list. 

"The  Commissioner  then  examines  his  own  memoranda  of  names 
—  men  whose  work  had  attracted  attention  or  much  favorable  ex- 
pression. After  weeks  of  inquiry,  examination  of  records,  without 
interference  from  any  source,  the  Commissioner  decides  upon  the 
men  whom  he  will  nominate  to  the  civil  service  commission  for 
examination."  .A.t  the  time  of  my  examination  of  the  Boston  police 
force  the  opinion  both  within  and  without  the  department  seemed 
to  be  that  promotions  were  absolutely  divorced  from  politics  or 
considerations  of  favoritism. 

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This  scheme  of  making  promotions  succeeded  the  old 
competitive  system  which  in  the  seven  or  eight  years  of 
its  operation  had  proved  disadvantageous  to  the  whole 
department.  "  It  worked  disastrously,"  the  chief  inspec- 
tor told  me.  In  191 3  the  civil  service  commission  pro- 
posed the  re-establishment  of  the  competitive  system  for 
promotion  in  order  to  bring  the  practice  of  the  entire 
state  to  a  standardized  form.  The  police  commissioner 
successfully  opposed  the  move,  and  in  a  series  of  frank 
letters  to  the  civil  service  commission  he  developed  the 
principle  of  his  position.  "  Nothing  that  your  commis- 
sion could  do,"  he  said,  "  would  work  greater  injury  than 
the  suggested  change  from  the  method  of  promotion 
which  has  produced  such  good  results  for  so  many  years. 
Indeed  the  proposal  involves  by  far  the  greatest  danger 
that  has  threatened  this  department  from  any  source  in 
my  seven  years  of  service  as  commissioner.^  .  .  .  The 
police  of  every  large  city  in  the  United  States,  except 
Boston,  are  suffering  a  public  disgrace  which  would  have 
been  spared  them  if  the  official  personality  of  their  offi- 
cers of  rank  had  been  the  first  consideration  of  those  who 
appointed  them."  - 

The  non-competitive  system  of  promotions  is  the 
method  in  vogue  in  London.  There  the  civil  service  com- 
mission enters  the  situation  only  upon  the  invitation  of 

^  Letters  of  Commissioner  O'Meara  to  the  state  civil  service  com- 
mission dated  February  12,  1913,  May  19,  1913,  and  May  27,  1913. 

-  Under  Commissioner  Curtis,  in  1919,  the  plan  of  competitive 
e.vaminations  conducted  by  the  civil  service  commission  was  re- 
established for  promotion  to  the  ranks  of  sergeant  and  lieutenant 
of  the  uniformed  force.  The  non-competitive  plan  still  applies  to 
the  rank  of  captain  and  to  the  ranks  of  detective  sergeant  and  in- 
spector in  the  detective  service. 


American  Police  Systems 

the  police  commissioner  to  assist  the  department  in  weed- 
ing out  men  whose  lack  of  education  makes  them  unfit 
for  promotion,  and  the  examination  which  it  gives  is 
merely  to  test  the  general  educational  capacity  of  the 
applicant.  A  second  examination  in  the  elements  of  po- 
lice duty,  both  oral  and  written,  is  given  by  a  board  of 
police  officials,  and  those  who  emerge  from  these  two 
tests  are  eligible  to  promotion,  although  the  commissioner, 
of  course,  makes  his  own  choices  from  the  list.^ 

Some  such  system  as  this  is  necessary  if  our  police  de- 
partments are  to  be  saved  from  lifelessness  and  dry  rot. 
With  promotions  the  result  of  real  excellence  in  police 
work  under  the  watchful  eye  of  superiors,  much  of  the 
present  inertia  would  disappear. 

The  question  of  discipline  is  the  final  factor  in  regard 
to  which  current  civil  service  procedure  needs  radical 
modification.  There  is  no  chance  for  progressive  im- 
provement in  a  police  department  if  the  hands  of  the 
responsible  executive  are  tied  in  his  dealings  with  his 
men.  Here  again  we  must  turn  to  Boston  for  an  example 
of  a  rational  system.  As  we  have  seen,  complaints 
against  members  of  the  force  are  heard  by  a  special 
trial  board  of  three  captains  appointed  by  the  police 
commissioner.-     The  commissioner,  however,  is  always 

1  For  a  fuller  discussion  of  the  system  of  promotions  in  London 
see  European  Police  Systems,  Chapter  VII.  Some  years  ago  in 
Boston  a  somewhat  similar  arrangement  was  in  force  and  a  private 
competitive  examination  was  given  by  the  police  commissioner  to 
those  applicants  who  had  passed  the  non-competitive  examination  of 
the  civil  service  commission.  Past  record  and  general  ability  counted 
as  points. 

2  As  a  matter  of  custom  only  captains  who  have  never  had  the 
deliquent  member  under  their  commands  at  any  time  are  chosen  to 
sit  as  members  of  the  trial  board. 

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supreme.  He  can  at  any  time  change  the  personnel  of 
the  trial  board,  order  a  new  trial,  or  set  aside  the 
recommendations  of  the  board  in  regard  to  the  punish- 
ment to  be  imposed.  His  word  is  final  and  from  it 
there  is  no  appeal  to  a  higher  civil  authority.^  On  no 
other  basis  can  responsibility  be  definitized  and  a  police 
force  be  rid  of  useless  or  dishonest  employees.  To 
divide  responsibility  with  a  civil  service  commission,  a 
mayor,  a  court,  or  any  other  authority,  is  to  sow  the 
seed  of  demoralization  and  to  make  real  success  impos- 
sible for  any  administrator,  no  matter  how  able. 

I  am  conscious  that  these  views  will  meet  with  opposi- 
tion from  those  who  dread  the  incursion  of  the  spoils 
system  into  our  police  departments  and  are  honestly 
frightened  at  the  vicious  forces  in  our  municipal  gov- 
ernments which  civil  service  barriers  have  served,  par- 
tially at  least,  to  keep  in  check.  It  must  be  admitted  that 
this  alarm  and  anxiety  are  not  without  basis.  One  has 
only  to  look  at  Kansas  City  or  Indianapolis  to  see  how 
the  unrestrained  play  of  these  forces  contributes  to  the 
demoralization  of  a  police  department.  But  we  shall 
never  solve  the  police  problem  in  America  until  we  give 
honest  and  eftective  leadership  an  opportunity  to  show 
what  it  can  do.  Sometime  or  other  we  have  got  to  make 
a  beginning  of  trusting  our  pubhc  officials.  Checks  and 
balances  to  curb  and  minimize  possible  abuses  of  power 
have  gotten  us  nowhere.     Complex  systems  to  prevent 

1  In  the  history  of  the  department  there  has  been  but  one  appeal  to 
the  court  from  decisions  of  the  police  commissioner  This  appeal 
failed  and  the  court  stated  that  it  would  not  review  questions  of  fart 
in  cases  of  this  kind,  but  only  the  regularity  of  the  procedure. 
(Welch  vs.  O'Meara,  195  Mass.,  541.) 

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American  Police  Systems 

bias  and  unfairness  have  brought  nothing  but  confusion. 
It  is  time  to  take  off  a  few  of  the  yokes  that  have  made 
pubhc  administration  an  impossible  task,  and  put  a  new 
emphasis  on  positive  quahties.  The  problem  before  us 
is  not  how  to  build  up  a  structure  that  will  circumvent 
the  dishonest  and  incompetent  official,  but  having  found 
a  competent  and  honest  official,  to  surround  him  with 
the  conditions  in  which  he  can  make  himself  effective. 

The  Police  School. 

Entering  upon  new  tasks  for  the  first  time,  police  re- 
cruits are  raw  material  to  be  molded  and  shaped  into 
efficient  police  officers.  How  is  this  to  be  accomplished? 
Two  answers  to  this  question  are  given  by  Ameri- 
can municipalities:  one  group  of  cities,  constituting, 
it  must  be  confessed,  a  small  proportion  of  the  total, 
holds  that  there  is  need  for  thorough-going  instruction 
by  classes  with  a  prescribed  curriculum  of  studies  relat- 
ing to  police  methods  and  procedure.  In  this  group  are 
such  cities  as  New  York,  Chicago,  Philadelphia,  Detroit, 
Cleveland,  St.  Louis,  Cincinnati,  Newark,  Louisville  and 
Berkeley,  California.  Another  group  of  cities,  by  far  the 
larger  number,  holds  to  the  view  of  the  old  time  police  offi- 
cial, that  text-books,  classes  of  instruction  and  written 
tests  are  of  little  worth  in  training  a  recruit  for  his  task. 
In  these  cities,  therefore,  men  are  turned  out  on  the 
streets  in  uniform  with  no  previous  preparation,  beyond 
perhaps  a  little  preliminary  practice  in  patrol  in  company 
with  an  older  officer.  Occasionally  this  so-called  instruc- 
tion goes  hand  in  hand  with  physical  drill. 

Of  the  police  training  schools  there  are  of  course  many 

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types,  ranging  from  the  well-organized  institution  operat- 
ing on  a  full  time  basis  to  the  part-time  "  school  "  which 
actually  amounts  to  little  more  than  a  periodic  assembly 
of  policemen  to  hear  a  lecture  on  some  phase  of  police 
work.  In  many  cities,  particularly  those  under  100,000 
population,  the  school  has  only  a  temporary  existence,  as 
substantial  periods  of  time  elapse  during  which  no  new 
appointments  to  the  force  are  made.  Probably  the  most 
ambitious  police  school  at  the  present  time  is  in  Berkeley, 
California.  Here  the  class,  which  meets  one  hour  a  day, 
takes  three  years  to  complete  the  courses  included  in  the 
curriculum.^  The  New  York  school  involves  two  months 
of  full  time  instruction;  in  Chicago,  Philadelphia,  St. 
Louis,  Detroit  and  Newark,  the  training  period  is  four 
weeks ;  in  Cleveland  it  is  three.  In  Cincinnati  and  Louis- 
ville only  part  of  the  day  is  devoted  to  school  work, 
the  remainder  being  spent  in  the  performance  of  regular 
duty. 

The  New  York  police  training  school  was  the  first  to 
be  established  as  an  independent  unit  of  the  police  de- 
partment. In  point  of  size,  scope,  method  and  equipment 
it  easily  takes  first  rank  among  the  police  schools  of  the 
United  States,  and  it  has  served  as  a  model  to  similar  in- 

^  The  courses  given  for  the  first  year  are:  physics,  chemistry, 
biology,  physiology  and  anatomy;  criminology';  anthropology  and 
heredity ;  toxicology.  For  the  second  year  courses  are  given  in 
criminal  psychology;  psychiatry;  theoretical  and  applied  criminology; 
police  organization  and  administration ;  police  practice  and  pro- 
cedure. The  third  year's  courses  include  microbiology  and  pari- 
sitology;  micro-analysis;  public  health:  first  aid;  elementary  and 
criminal  law.  For  a  fuller  description  of  the  Berkeley  school  see 
article  by  .August  Vollmer  and  Albert  Schneider  in  The  Journal  of 
the  American  Institute  of  Criminal  Lazu  and  Criminology,  Vol.  VII, 
No.  6. 

299 


American  Police  Systems 

stitutions  established  in  other  numicipahties.  For  that 
reason  it  is  permissible  to  follow  its  operation  in  some 
detail. 

Because  of  the  varied  us$  of  the  term  "  school  "  it  is 
difficult  to  determine  when  the  New  York  institution  was 
first  inaugurated.  If  a  single  instructor,  a  number  of 
students  and  a  certain  amount  of  time  devoted  to  instruc- 
tion constitute  a  school,  then  the  New  York  department 
has  been  equipped  with  a  school  for  half  a  century.  In 
earlier  times,  however,  the  instruction  was  of  the  most 
elementary  kind.  Police  recruits  were  taught  for  a  period 
of  thirty  days  by  a  sergeant  specially  detailed  for  that 
purpose,  and  in  addition  the  students  were  sent  out  on 
patrol  during  certain  hours  of  the  day  or  night.  No 
particular  attention  was  paid  to  this  preparatory  work; 
it  was  thought  sufficient  to  acquaint  the  recruit  with  the 
rules  and  regulations  of  the  department  and  to  give  him 
a  rudimentary  knowledge  of  the  laws  and  ordinances  of 
the  city.  Formations,  drills  and  exercises  also  formed 
a  part  of  this  early  training. 

The  development  of  these  educational  activities  in  New 
York  has  been  irregular  and  uncertain,  dependent  upon 
the  interest  and  enthusiasm  of  the  changing  police  com- 
missioners. At  times  the  teaching  corps  has  been  en- 
larged and  the  instruction  broadened,  only  to  be  reduced 
by  succeeding  commissioners.  The  elementary  prepara- 
tory instruction  in  laws,  ordinances  and  rules  has  for  most 
part  remained  fairly  constant,  and  has  never  been  dis- 
carded altogether,  although  considerable  fluctuation  has 
occurred  in  the  amount  and  variety  of  physical  drill. 

A  general  reconstruction  of  the  school  occurred  in  1914 

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at  the  beginning  of  the  administration  of  Commissioner 
\\'oods.  The  title  was  changed  from  "  School  of  Re- 
cruits "  to  "  The  Police  Training  School,''  indicating  that 
thereafter  it  would  not  only  offer  instruction  for  the  new 
recruit,  but  would  include  specialized  courses  for  older 
members  of  the  service,  with  the  idea  particularly  of  as- 
sisting them  in  preparation  for  promotional  examination. 
The  scope  of  the  school  was  broadened  in  every  way, 
necessitating  the  lengthening  of  the  term  for  recruits  from 
six  weeks  to  three  months.^  New  courses  were  added  to 
the  curriculum,  with  the  consequent  enlargement  of  the 
teaching  staff,  and  a  unit  organization  was  established  for 
the  supervision  and  control  of  the  school's  operation. 

As  far  as  the  school  for  recruits  is  concerned,  the 
methods  instituted  by  Commissioner  Woods  remain  prac- 
tically unaltered.  The  school  day  begins  at  9:00  a.  m. 
and  ends  at  5  :  00  p.  M.  for  the  first  five  days  of  the  week, 
and  from  9 :  00  to  12  :  00  on  Saturdays.  The  day  is  di- 
vided into  periods  according  to  the  following  schedule : 
the  first  period  from  9 :  00  to  9 :  30,  is  spent  at  the  regular 
detective  bureau  "  lineup  "  of  criminals  arrested  on  the 
preceding  day  and  night  for  serious  crimes ;  9 :  30  to 
1 1  :  CK),  classroom  instruction  ;  1 1  :  00  to  12  :  00,  drills  and 
physical  instruction  ;  12  :  00  to  i  :  00,  luncheon  hour;  i  :  00 
to  3  :  00,  classroom  instruction  ;  3  :  00  to  4 :  00,  physical ; 
4:  00  to  5  :  00,  classroom.  The  curriculum  of  classroom 
instruction  includes  22  subjects  taken  up  in  the  following 
order:  deportment,  patrol,  observation,  crime  classifica- 

'  In  1917  owing  to  the  war  emergency  this  pcritiil  was  reduced  to 
wo  months  and  the  time  required  for  the  training  of  recruits  has 
11  it  since  been  altered. 

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American  Police  Systems 

tion,  arrests,  traffic,  animals,  fires  and  accidents,  ordi- 
nances and  sanitary  code,  disorderly  conduct,  felonies  and 
misdemeanors,  assaults  and  weapons,  homicide,  larceny 
and  robbery,  burglary,  children,  court  procedure,  public 
morals,  report  making,  election  law,  malicious  michief. 
Sabbath  law. 

Each  recruit  is  supplied  with  the  rules  and  regulations 
of  the  department  and  a  copy  of  a  text-book/  In  the 
course  of  several  years  of  experience  the  instructors  have 
evolved  a  practical  sort  of  pedagogy  by  which  they  com- 
bine the  lecture  method  with  actual  experiments  in  the 
classroom.  Questions  involving  legal  rights  and  limi- 
tations as  well  as  police  technique  are  illustrated  by  hypo- 
thetical cases  which  are  worked  out  by  the  instructors  in 
the  class,  a  recruit  generally  acting  as  a  policeman  while 
the  instructor  poses  as  a  criminal  or  citizen  with  whom 
the  policeman  has  to  deal.  Every  conceivable  circum- 
stance involving  police  action  is  illustrated  and  discussed, 
and  the  recruit  is  enabled  to  visualize  the  actual  practical 
situations  with  which  he  will  be  called  upon  to  deal.  Ex- 
tensive use  is  made  of  charts  and  blackboard  illustrations, 
and  every  effort  is  made  to  rivet  the  attention  of  the 
student  by  vivid  example  and  dramatic  incident. 

This  daily  course  of  instruction  is  supplemented  by  a 
schedule  of  special  talks  and  lectures  given  by  other  mem- 
bers of  the  department  of  various  ranks  and  grades, 
chosen  because  of  some  achievement  or  proficiency  in  a 
particular  line  of  work.  Thus  lectures  are  given  on  the 
care  and  purchase  of  uniforms,  on  discipline,  first  aid 

1  The  text-book  used  is  Police  Practice  and  Procedure  by  Inspector 
Cornelius  Cahalane  of  the  New  York  Department. 

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to  the  injured,  finger  prints,  "  trailing,"  handling  of  beg- 
gars, statistical  purposes  and  uses  of  police  reports  and 
the  preparation  of  cases  for  the  magistrates'  courts.  In 
addition  to  the  daily  class  work,  a  certain  amount  of 
home  work  is  assi'gned  for  each  night,  to  be  submitted  in 
writing  on  the  following  day.  This  w'ork  is  reviewed 
by  the  instructors  and  briefly  discussed  at  the  lecture 
period.  Bi-weekly  written  tests  are  held  and  the  papers 
in  these  examinations  are  graded  and  made  a  matter  of 
record. 

The  field  work,  embracing  practical  demonstrations  of 
methods  of  patrol,  observation  and  reporting,  is  a  very 
important  part  of  the  recruit's  training.  Each  recruit  is 
assigned  to  "  student  patrol  "  from  six  p.  m.  to  ten  p.  m. 
every  Saturday,  Sunday  and  holiday  throughout  the  two 
months'  period.  He  reports  to  a  different  precinct  on 
each  assignment,  and  thus  visits  during  his  training  course 
about  eighteen  or  twenty  precincts.  The  patrol  is  done 
in  the  company  of  an  experienced  patrolman  who  is  regu- 
larlv  attached  to  the  precinct.  At  the  end  of  such  a 
student  tour  of  patrol,  the  recruit  is  required  to  prepare 
a  written  report  setting  forth  the  details  of  what  he  has 
seen  and  learned. 

Two  hours  each  day  are  devoted  to  physical  instruc- 
tion and  drills  and  they  serve  as  a  pleasant  break  in  the 
monotony  of  classroom  work.  The  methods  of  training 
in  use  in  West  Point  have  been  introduced  in  the  police 
school  with  excellent  results.  The  men  are  daily  put 
through  regulation  calisthenic  exercises  and  are  taught  to 
keep  their  bodies  in  the  best  possible  condition.  Self- 
defense  is  taught  in  its  several  branches,  including  the 

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American  Police  Systems 

Japanese  system  of  jin  jitsu.  Exercises  are  given  in 
ladder-scaling,  and  in  carrying  persons  in  rescue  work. 
Every  policeman  must  be  able  to  suini  and  be  able  to  use 
the  approved  methods  of  life-saving.  Swimming  is 
taught  in  the  municipal  pools,  and  in  the  harbor  during 
the  warm  season.  At  the  end  of  the  two  months'  course, 
the  class  must  be  able  to  execute  drills  and  formations 
perfectly,  and  each  member  must  be  capable  of  taking 
command  in  the  direction  of  drill  work. 

Prior  to  191 /,  during  Commissioner  Woods'  adminis- 
tration, the  scope  of  the  school,  as  we  have  seen,  was 
broadened  to  include  training  for  superior  officers.  In- 
deed, Commissioner  Woods'  idea  was  to  make  the  police 
department  a  university  in  which  all  ranks  would  con- 
stantly be  "freshening  up" — to  use  his  expression — » 
in  police  technique.  With  that  end  in  view,  inspectors 
and  captains  were  given  courses  of  lectures  by  criminolo- 
gists, jurists,  identification  experts,  and  other  specialists 
in  fields  relating  to  police  work.  So-called  "  review 
courses,"  extending  over  a  period  of  two  weeks,  were 
compulsory  for  lieutenants,  sergeants,  "  near  "-lieu- 
tenants and  "  near  "-sergeants  —  the  latter  being  mem- 
bers of  grades  that  had  passed  promotional  examinations 
and  were  on  the  lists  for  appointment.  The  purpose  of 
these  courses  was  to  keep  the  officers  from  becoming 
"  rusty,"  lest  the  recruits,  fresh  from  school,  be  better 
versed  in  special  subjects  than  their  superiors.  Lectures 
were  also  given  in  these  courses  on  such  special  phases 
of  police  activity  as  discipline,  the  preparation  of  records 
and  the  giving  of  bail.  In  all  this  work  the  men  gave 
full  time  to  their  studies,  as  experience  showed  that  best 

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results  were  obtained  when  policemen  undergoing-  these 
review  tests  were  excused  from  all  other  duty. 

In  addition,  classes  were  organized  to  train  regular 
patrolmen  who  were  applicants  for  special  policy  duty. 
Thus  a  class  was  conducted  for  members  desiring  to  enter 
the  motorcycle  squad,  and  the  time  was  spent  between 
mechanical  shop  work  and  road  work.  Another  class 
was  given  two  weeks'  training  for  mounted  traffic  duty, 
while  still  another  was  instructed  for  the  same  period 
for  foot  traffic  duty.  The  men  were  rated  according  to 
proficiency  shown  in  the  school  and  assignment  to  these 
special  details  was  made  on  the  basis  of  a  list  prepared  by 
the  school  officers.^ 

We  have  considered  at  some  length  the  details  of  the 
Xew  York  school  curriculum  because  it  represents  the 
best  training  system  in  police  work  which  any  American 
city  of  size  has  produced.  Surely  the  experience  not 
only  of  New  York  but  of  other  large  cities  like  London 
and  Paris  amply  demonstrates  the  fact  that  a  properly 
equipped  and  administered  school  is  perhaps  the  most 
indispensable  single  feature  of  the  police  force  of  a  mod- 
ern community.-  For  it  must  be  repeated  that  the  pri- 
mary problem  in  police  administration  is  the  problem  of 
personnel.  The  establishment  of  reporting  systems  and 
the  building  up  of  organization  schemes  can  not  wisely 
be  disregarded  or  slighted,  for  they  are  important  and 
have  a  definite  i)lace  in  regulating  the  daily  work  of  the 
force.     But   they   are   aids   and   means,   not   ends.     The 

1  All  these  advanced  and  special  schools  were  dropped  hy  Commis- 
sioner Woods'   successor. 

-  For  a  full  description  of  European  police  schools  sec  Biirof^can 
Police  Systems,  Chapter  VI. 


American  Police  Systems 

heart  of  police  work  is  the  contact  of  the  individual  police- 
man with  the  citizen.  There  are  very  few  times  when 
the  department  as  a  whole  or  even  any  large  part  of  it 
proceeds  directly  to  do  police  work.  Nearly  all  police 
activity  is  initiated  in  the  field  away  from  headquarters 
and  station  houses.  The  action  that  is  first  taken  by  the 
policeman  of  lower  rank,  operating  independently,  must. 
in  each  case,  remain  the  foundation  of  the  department's 
action.  In  the  final  analysis,  police  business  is  but  the 
aggregate  of  personal  enterprise,  and  the  quality  of  a  de- 
partment's work  depends  on  the  observation,  knowdedge, 
discretion,  courage  and  judgment  of  the  men,  acting  as 
individuals,  wdio  compose  the  various  units  or  branches 
of  the  organization.  The  operation  of  mere  organization 
machinery  may  achieve  a  high  degree  of  perfection,  but 
if  the  members  of  the  force,  acting  in  their  individual 
capacities,  go  about  their  tasks  without  intelligence,  tact 
or  public  spirit,  the  "  system  "  counts  for  little  and  the 
whole  administration  is  a  failure.  Only  as  the  training 
of  the  policeman  is  deliberate  and  thorough,  with  emphasis 
upon  the  social  implications  and  human  aspects  of  his 
task,  can  real  success  in  police  work  be  achieved. 

Patrol  Sennce. 

The  policeman's  work  is  built  largely  around  the  pa- 
trol system.  Indeed  the  patrol  post  has  become  through 
years  of  custom  the  basic  unit  of  police  organization,  and 
no  discussion  of  police  work  would  be  complete  which 
did  not  make  especial  mention  of  it. 

No  one  can  examine  the  methods  of  patrol  employed 
throughout   the   country   without   being   struck   by   the 

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The  Rank  and  File 

amount  of  waste  which  they  involve,  due  largely  to  the 
rigid  adherence  of  police  authorities  to  old  conventional 
ideas.  In  many  cities,  as  we  have  already  pointed  out,^ 
the  same  methods  of  patrol  that  were  in  use  30  or  40 
years  ago  have  been  continued  to  the  present  time.-  It 
is  not  at  all  uncommon  to  find  the  boundaries  of  posts 
remaining  unaltered  for  years,  notwithstanding  the  fact 
that  the  whole  character  of  the  district  has  changed  — 
often  with  business,  warehouse  and  factory  buildings  com- 
pletely taking  the  place  of  former  residences.  Moreover 
there  are  many  districts  in  which  the  night  problem,  from 
a  police  point  of  view,  is  entirely  different  from  the  day 
problem,  yet  the  posts  in  such  districts  are  often  policed  in 
exactly  the  same  way  during  all  hours  of  the  day  and 
night. 

There  are  several  respects  in  which  the  whole  police 
problem  has  been  so  altered  as  to  lessen  the  need  of  foot- 
patrol  or  at  least  to  reduce  its  effectiveness.  Public  dis- 
order, such  as  street  fighting,  disturbance  by  intoxicated 
persons  and  general  rowdiness,  while  not  unknown,  does 
not  occur  with  the  same  frequency  as  in  earlier  days,  and 
even  when  occurring  it  is  restricted  to  comparatively 
small  areas  where  the  population  is  congested.  More- 
over the  extensive  use  of  automobiles  has  rendered  foot- 
patrol  a  handicapped  method  of  defense,  if  it  has  not 
actually  made  it  obsolete  in  many  situations.  If  the 
criminal  is  equipped  with  an  automobile  a  patrolman  on 

^  See  ante.  Chap.  V. 

■'  One  exception  can  be  noted.  Formerly  it  was  the  practice  to 
send  patrolmen  out  in  pairs.  This  practice  has  been  almost  uni- 
versally abandoned  and  a  patrolman  is  now  given  a  post  or  beat 
for  which  he  alone  is  responsible  during  his  tour  of  duty. 


American  Police  Systems 

foot  has  little  chance  to  catch  him.  Formerly  when  a 
patrolman  encountered  a  stranger  prowling  about  by  day 
or  night,  he  watched  his  actions  and  followed  him  if 
necessary,  and  if  the  suspected  person  was  equipped  with 
horse  and  buggy  it  was  easy  to  obtain  an  identifying  de- 
scription. Now  that  the  automobile  has  made  travel  by 
night  much  more  common,  identification  is  difficult  and 
the  occupants  of  vehicles  cannot  easily  be  observed. 

Another  factor  which  is  rapidly  undermining  the  use- 
fulness of  foot-patrol  is  the  increasing  area  of  residential 
districts  in  large  cities.  The  old  type  of  patrol  cannot 
adequately  meet  this  situation  except  at  a  cost  which 
would  be  prohibitive.  To  be  efifective,  the  foot-patrolman 
must  have  a  post  small  enough  to  enable  him  to  cover  it 
quickly  and  continuously.  In  the  absence  of  enough  pa- 
trolmen to  man  this  kind  of  post,  policemen  in  outlying 
districts  are  given  beats  frequently  more  than  a  half  mile 
in  length  and  width.  The  results  are  largely  negative,  as 
the  chance  of  being  at  the  right  place  at  the  right  time 
is  the  element  which  determines  a  patrolman's  efifective- 
ness  on  a  large  post.  Even  if  cost  were  not  a  factor  neces- 
sary to  be  considered  and  patrolmen  could  be  employed  to 
any  number,  this  type  of  patrol  is  ill  adapted  to  new  condi- 
tions. In  the  outlying  residential  districts,  made  up  of 
detached  houses,  very  Httle  crime  or  disorder  is  committed 
by  persons  residing  there.  Most  of  the  crimes  take  the 
form  of  attacks  against  property,  such  as  robbery,  burg- 
lary and  larceny,  and  are  perpetrated  by  non-residents  who 
plan  their  crimes  in  advance  and  await  their  opportunity 
to  act.     It  is  obvious  that  the  uniformed  patrolman  on 

308 


The  Rank  and  File 

beat  is  not  fitted  to  cope  with  this  type  of  crime.  He  is 
simply  a  signal  and  a  warning,  and  the  criminal  waits 
until  the  patrolman  has  passed  out  of  sight  and  hearing 
before  beginning  operations. 

Police  technique  in  the  average  city  has  not  kept  pace 
with  modern  developments,  and  hundreds  of  thousands 
of  dollars  are  annually  paid  out  for  services  which  are 
largely  wasted.  Only  as  mechanical  equipment  is  intro- 
duced in  outlying  districts  as  a  substitute  for  the  old  foot 
patrol  system  can  the  police  department  keep  abreast  of 
its  work.  It  is  encouraging,  therefore,  to  note  the  use  in 
a  few  cities  of  motor  vehicles  for  patrol  work,  and  of 
other  devices  such  as  patrol  booths  and  flashlight  signal 
systems.  Creditable  beginnings  in  the  use  of  these  me- 
chanical aids  have  been  made  notably  in  Detroit,  Los 
Angeles,  Kansas  City,  New  York  and  Berkeley,  Cali- 
fornia. New  York  has  had  a  thorough  test  of  the  booth 
system  and  has  proved  its  adaptability  to  the  protection  of 
large  residential  districts.  A  single  booth  was  established 
as  an  experiment  by  the  Detroit  department  in  1918;  its 
value  was  so  clearly  demonstrated  that  thirteen  additional 
booths  were  erected  shortly  thereafter.^  The  patrol  booth 
is  in  effect  a  miniature  police  station.  Its  chief  advantage 
lies  in  the  fact  that  a  policeman  in  a  given  territory  is 
made  immediately  available  to  citizens  and  headquarters 
alike.  A  proper  operation  of  the  booth  system  requires 
that  not  less  than  two  men.  c(|uipped  with  motorcycle  or 
automobile,  be  attached  to  a  booth  at  the  same  time.     One 

'  For  an  account  of  the  Detroit  patrol  bootli  system,  sec  the  Annual 
Report  of  the  Detroit  Police  Department,  1918. 


American  Police  Systems 

man  remains  at  the  booth  while  the  other  circulates 
through  the  district,  returning  periodically  to  the  booth. 
In  case  the  booth  man  is  absent  on  an  emergency  call,  the 
other  remains  at  the  booth  until  his  return.  By  this  ar- 
rangement a  district  is  given  the  benefit  of  patrol  —  in 
point  of  fact  the  motorcycle  or  automobile  man  gives 
better  patrol  service  than  the  foot-patrolman  —  and  at  the 
same  time  a  policeman  can  be  had  at  once  in  case  of  need. 
Citizens  have  a  far  greater  feeling  of  security  in  knowing 
that  they  can  get  a  policeman  immediately  than  in  know- 
ing that  a  foot-patrolman  is  somewhere  in  the  district  and 
that  there  is  a  chance  that  he  is  near  enough  to  hear  a  call 
for  help. 

The  use  of  automobiles  for  patrolling  the  streets  is  also 
gaining  in  favor  and  will  doubtless  soon  supersede  the 
present  foot-patrol  method  as  far  as  the  outlying  sections 
of  our  cities  are  concerned.  Kansas  City,  Mo.,  and 
Berkeley,  Cal.,  were  the  first  cities  to  give  the  automobile 
a  thorough-going  trial.  Because  of  a  reduction  in  the 
number  of  policemen  in  the  Kansas  City  department  it  be- 
came necessary  to  use  automobiles  so  as  to  enable  the 
srhall  force  to  cover  the  whole  city.  The  innovation 
proved  profitable  from  the  beginning. 

In  Berkeley  every  patrolman  in  the  department  is 
equipped  with  a  small  Ford  car.  Chief  Vollmer  in  speak- 
ing of  the  value  of  automobiles  in  patrol  service  made  the 
following  report :  "  Patrolmen  thus  equipped  (with  au- 
tomobiles) travel  over  one  thousand  miles  of  streets  per 
month ;  respond  promptly  to  emergency  calls ;  are  in  good 
physical  condition  when  they  arrive  at  the  site  of  trouble; 
are  protected  during  inclement  weather,  and  able  to  per- 

310 


The  Rank  and  File 

form  their  duties  in  a  more  satisfactory  manner."  *  The 
excellent  results  that  have  been  achieved  by  the  Berkeley 
department  through  the  close  supervision  of  the  training 
and  work  of  individual  policemen  and  through  the  use 
of  motor  equipment  in  patrol  are  reflected  in  the  statistics 
of  operations  covering  the  seven-year  period  from  1908 
to  191 5  inclusive.  In  this  period  the  population  increased 
from  37,000  to  64,000.  The  total  membership  of  the 
force  was  increased  in  this  time  by  but  five  men  Re- 
ports and  complaints  of  crime  or  other  conditions  requir- 
ing the  attention  of  the  police  increased  only  14%  as 
against  a  73%  increase  in  population.  The  value  of 
property  reported  stolen  was  $20,789.47  in  1908  and  $14,- 
892.91  in  191 5,  a  decrease  of  28%.^  These  figures  indi- 
cate the  value  of  corrective  and  preventive  work  done  by 
the  department  in  increasing  the  effectiveness  of  each 
member  of  the  organization  through  improved  methods  of 
operation. 

In  April,  of  1918  the  Detroit  department  placed  over 
150  Ford  automobiles  on  the  streets  to  patrol  l:>eats  for- 
merly covered  by  foot-patrolmen.  Each  machine  carries 
two  policemen,  one  in  plain  clothes  and  one  in  uniform. 
During  the  first  month  of  the  operation  of  these  machines, 
felony  complaints  were  reduced  from  654  reported  in  the 
previous  month  to  528 ;  in  the  second  month  there  was  a 
further  decrease  of  65  felony  complaints  over  the  prev- 
ious month.  "  The  innovation  of  the  automobile  as  a 
preventive  (of  crime)  has  proven  a  great  success,"  said 

1  From  the  Annual  Report  of  the  Chief  of  Police,  Berkeley,  Cal., 

1915. 
-  Ibid. 


American  Police  Systems 

an  official  of  the  Detroit  department,  "  for  two  men  can 
now  do  the  work  that  formerly  took  four  or  five,  and  are 
able  to  do  any  kind  of  work  with  more  success  in  resi- 
dential districts  than  officers  on  foot."  ^ 

Similarly  other  cities,  such  as  St.  Louis,  Seattle,  Los 
Angeles  and  Louisville,  are  making  small  beginnings  in 
the  use  of  automobiles  for  patrolling  beats.  The  hesi- 
tation of  many  departments  in  taking  up  the  automobile 
for  patrol  purposes  is  due  to  the  expense  involved  in 
the  initial  outlay  and  maintenance  charges.  On  the 
other  hand,  if  two  men  equipped  with  an  automobile  can 
do  the  work  of  five,  or  perhaps  eight  men  on  foot,  a  re- 
duction in  the  patrol  force  is  possible,  and  the  saving  in 
salaries  may  more  than  offset  the  cost  of  providing  the 
necessary  motor  equipment. 

The  modern  development  of  patrol  service  is  in  the 
direction  of  limiting  foot-patrol  to  congested  districts 
where  large  numbers  of  people  are  passing  in  the  streets, 
where  accidents  are  likely  to  occur  and  where  public  dis- 
turbances may  develop  with  little  warning.  Uniformed 
men  patrolling  in  non-congested  districts  and  in  business 
districts  which  are  closed  during  the  hours  of  the  night 
may  be  supplanted  for  the  most  part  by  junior  detectives, 
plain  clothes  operatives,  and  men  equipped  with  automo- 
biles. By  the  adoption  of  the  booth  system  and  the  in- 
stallation of  signal  devices,  the  certainty  of  police  assist- 
ance will  furnish  a  greater  degree  of  security  than  can  be 
had  by  relying  on  the  accidental  presence  of  a  patrolman 
circulating  on  foot  over  a  large  post. 

1  Inspector   Kinney  in  the  Annual   Report  of  the  Detroit   Police 
Department,  1918. 

312 


The  Rank  and  File 

The  Rigidity  of  the  Police  Department. 

There  is  a  widely  prevailing  disposition  on  the  part  of 
police  officials  to  view  the  force  as  a  mechanism  created 
to  operate  automatically.  More  thought  is  given  to  the 
perfection  of  the  organization  as  a  machine  of  smoothly 
working  parts  and  to  the  employment  of  systematic  re- 
porting schemes  than  to  the  primary  problem  of  adjusting 
individual  persons  to  their  tasks.  This  emphasis  upon 
the  mechanical  side  of  organization  is  accentuated  by  hard 
and  fast  rules  and  regulations  which  prescribe,  often  in 
great  detail,  the  duties  of  each  member  of  the  department 
according  to  his  rank  and  assignment.  The  idea  is  to  put 
each  member  of  the  force  in  a  place  provided  by  a 
"  paper  "  scheme  of  organization,  and  then  to  find  means 
of  checking  his  routine  work  through  supervising  officers. 
Sergeants  of  police  give  immediate  direction  to  patrol- 
men and  in  turn  report  to  lieutenants  or  captains;  these 
report  to  officers  of  higher  rank,  and  so  matters  come 
ultimately  to  the  chief  officer.  The  aim  of  this  hierar- 
chial  arrangement  seems  to  be  to  provide  a  set  of  superior 
officers  who  will  see  to  it  that  members  of  the  next  lower 
rank  are  performing  their  duties  as  required  by  regula- 
tions. 

This  mechanical  system  is  deemed  a  safeguard  against 
the  too  frequent  changes  in  the  office  of  the  administra- 
tive head  of  the  department.  "  Commissioners  may  come 
and  commissioners  may  go  but  the  '  system  '  goes  on  for- 
ever.'' '  This  e.xpression  is  often  heard  in  explanation 
of  the  unchanging  character  of  police  organization  and 

1  The  term  system  is  not  here  used  in  any  sinister  sense. 

Z^2> 


American  Police  Systems 

of  police  procedure  based  on  precedent.  The  implication 
is  that  the  department  performs  the  great  bulk  of  its 
routine  work  automatically  and  that  the  machine  can  and 
does  operate  without  the  aid  of  administrative  super- 
vision. 

It  would  be  foolish,  of  course,  to  underestimate  the 
value  of  orderly  machinery.  But  it  can  be  over-emphas- 
sized  to  the  point  of  rigidity,  so  that  the  organization 
ceases  to  be  a  vital,  living  thing  and  becomes  merely  a 
mechanical  device.  As  far  as  the  police  department  is 
concerned,  it  is  undoubtedly  true  that  this  over-emphasis 
is  the  result  of  the  old  analogy  between  an  army  and  a 
police  force  and  the  attempt  to  put  this  analogy  into  active 
operation.  But  the  analogy  is  largely  fallacious.  An 
army  does  its  work  through  groups  of  its  units  —  di- 
visions, brigades,  regiments  and  companies — in  all  of 
which  the  private  is  little  more  than  a  cog.  Initiative 
and  imagination  not  only  have  no  place  in  his  career, 
but,  for  the  sake  of  discipline,  their  exhibition  is  dis- 
couraged. The  work  of  a  police  force,  however,  de- 
'pends,  as  we  have  seen,  upon  the  capacity  of  the  indi- 
vidual policeman.  On  his  beat  or  at  his  post  he  must 
do  his  duty  alone,  usually  dealing  with  emergencies  by  his 
own  unaided  action.  However  difficult  or  novel  the  cir- 
cumstances which  confront  him,  he  must  decide  instantly 
on  his  own  responsibility  whether  or  not  they  call  for  his 
interference.  Only  occasionally  is  there  an  opportunity 
for  concerted  action  in  connection  with  his  brother  offi- 
cers. For  the  most  part  he  must  depend  upon  his  own 
resourcefulness  and  originality,  characteristics  which  in 
army  training  remain  largely  undeveloped. 

314 


The  Rank  and  File 

Consequently,  the  same  insistence  upon  system  and 
procedure  which  makes  an  army  successful  often  becomes 
the  cause  of  defeat  in  a  police  force.  The  organization 
stands  between  the  police  and  their  objective.  The  ob- 
jective is  not  clearly  conceived  and  the  machinery  becomes 
an  end  in  itself.  Thus  police  needs  are  generally  esti- 
mated in  terms  of  quotas  of  men  prescribed  for  the  va- 
rious divisions  of  the  department,  and  policemen  are 
thought  of  as  being  more  or  less  standardized  units  to 
fill  precinct,  district  or  squad  quotas.  One  set  of  ten 
men,  accordingly,  is  supposed  to  be  the  equivalent  of  any 
other  set  of  ten  men  for  ordinary  police  work.  It  is 
the  number  of  standardized  units  that  is  chiefly  reckoned 
with,  and  not  the  special  abilities  of  individual  officers  in 
their  contact  with  crime  conditions  or  the  difficulties  and 
perplexities  of  citizens  on  the  street. 

Perhaps  the  chief  objection  to  this  over-emphasis  on 
the  mechanical  side  of  organization  lies  in  the  resulting 
inability  of  police  departments  to  mobilize  their  forces 
speedily  and  effectively.  They  are  unable  to  make  sud- 
den shifts  of  personnel  in  attacking  pressing  problems  or 
to  modify  the  methods  of  their  procedure  as  necessity  may 
dictate.  This  immobility  is  due  partly  to  a  fear  of  dis- 
mpting  the  orderly  processes  of  the  machine  and  partly 
to  a  lack  of  appreciation  of  the  value  of  having  a  flexible 
force. 

Mobilization  of  police  forces  is  of  two  kinds:  one  con- 
sists in  assembling  units  of  men  at  designated  places  at  a 
given  time,  and  the  other  consists  in  concentrating  the 
work  of  several  different  units  of  the  organization  on  a 
single  problem  irrespective  of  normal  function. 


American  Police  Systems 

The  value  of  the  physical  mobilization  of  men  is  uni- 
versally recognized,  although  the  provisions  for  effecting 
it  vary  considerably  from  city  to  city.  In  some  communi- 
ties squads  of  men  are  kept  in  station  houses  on  reserve 
duty.  They  are  subject  to  call  and  immediate  assign- 
ment, and  by  the  use  of  automobiles  where  districts  are 
large,  they  can  be  despatched  without  delay  to  a  scene  of 
disorder  or  accident.  In  other  cities  no  regular  reserve 
system  exists,  but  in  cases  of  emergency  men  are  sum- 
moned from  patrol  posts  or  from  special  office  assign- 
ments. The  tendency  at  present  is  to  reduce  the  num- 
ber of  reserve  men  who  remain  idle  except  during  emer- 
gency service,  and  to  rely  more  and  more  on  gong  or  bell 
signals  in  day  time  and  flashlights  at  night  for  summon- 
ing men  who  are  on  patrol.  In  the  largest  cities,  how- 
ever, the  congestion  of  population  and  the  possibility  of 
disturbance  make  it  necessary  to  maintain  some  kind  of 
a  reserve  force  at  a  few,  at  least,  of  the  station  houses. 

The  other  type  of  mobilization  to  which  we  referred 
actually  amounts  to  a  temporary  readjustment  of  the  de- 
partment's program  by  giving  special  attention  to  condi- 
tions calling  for  immediate  correction.  It  is  in  this  re- 
spect that  the  weakness  of  police  departments  in  general 
is  to  be  observed.  Hard  and  fast  organization  lines  pre- 
vent any  considerable  concentration  of  the  energies  of 
various  divisions  on  a  common  problem.  Police  forces 
cannot  readily  be  shifted  from  point  to  point,  or  rapidly 
mobilized  to  meet  some  new  development  of  crime,  vice, 
or  delinquincy;  nor  can  the  whole  department  be  bent  to 
aid  in  the  correction  of  an  abnormal  situation.  To  be 
sure  efforts  are  often  made  to  meet  bad  conditions  by  de- 

316 


Tlie  Rank  and  File 

tailing  members  of  the  force  as  special  investigators  apart 
from  their  regular  routine.  For  example,  when  burg- 
laries or  robberies  are  committed  with  unusual  frequency 
in  a  certain  residential  district,  detectives  are  often  sent 
to  operate  there  on  general  assignment.  Similarly,  when- 
ever complaints  of  prostitution  or  gambling  begin  to 
multiply,  the  common  practice  is  to  detail,  temporarily,  an 
extra  number  of  men  from  the  uniformed  force  to  do  duty 
in  plain  clothes  under  the  special  direction  of  an  officer 
in  charge  of  the  suppression  of  vice. 

This  practice  is  a  step  in  the  right  direction  but  it  is 
only  a  step.  It  could  be  extended  throughout  the  whole 
organization.  Any  unusual  crime  conditions  could  be 
treated  in  the  same  way.  Juvenile  delinquencies,  gam- 
bling, swindling  schemes  of  various  sorts,  mendicancy, 
vagrancy,  rowdyism,  violations  of  sanitary  regulations, 
violations  of  motor  vehicle  laws  —  all  of  these  as  they 
developed  could  be  met  with  especial  vigor  by  the  concen- 
trated effort  of  all  divisions  or  by  temporary  enlargement 
of  the  special  divisions. 

In  Berkeley,  Cal..  where  more  than  usual  intelligence 
is  given  to  police  problems,  it  is  customary  to  set  the  whole 
machinery  of  the  department  to  work  in  cleaning  up  spe- 
cial crime  conditions  as  they  become  evident.  If  vag- 
rancy or  minor  trespassing  is  the  immediate  problem,  uni- 
formed patrolmen,  detectives,  plain  clothes  men  and  su- 
perior officers  devote  especial  attention  to  stamping  it  out. 
As  quickly  as  conditions  have  been  remedied  the  men  re- 
turn to  their  customary  duties,  and  no  organization 
changes  are  required. 

In  most  cities,  however,  a  temporary  aggravation  of 

'3V 


American  Police  Systems 

some  phase  of  the  pohce  problem  is  held  to  require  an 
increase  in  the  number  of  men  specializing  in  that  phase 
of  work.  Thus  if  violations  of  motor  vehicle  laws  be- 
come unusually  numerous  and  cannot  be  handled  by  the 
traffic  squad,  no  other  branch  of  the  service  is  called  tem- 
porarily to  the  assignment.  Either  more  members  are 
added  to  the  permanent  traffic  squad  or  else  the  offenses 
continue  to  be  inadequately  handled. 

The  chief  fault  in  the  present  situation  is  that  the  police 
department  is  not  readily  sensitive  to  changes  in  its  prob- 
lem. It  is  only  when  extreme  conditions  of  crime  or 
delinquency  appear  and  after  much  damage  has  been  done 
that  the  police  organization  is  in  any  way  altered  to  meet 
the  situation.  Even  then  the  department  as  a  whole  is  not 
immeditaely  responsive  to  the  circumstances  nor  are  its 
parts  concentrated  to  correct  the  abnormal  situation. 
The  final  test  of  the  effectiveness  of  a  police  organization 
is  first,  its  success  in  acquiring  accurate  and  complete  in- 
formation as  to  crime  conditions  in  the  community,  and 
second,  its  ability,  through  the  generalship  of  its  officers, 
to  proceed  against  such  conditions  with  the  least  delay  and 
with  all  available  forces.  The  problem  of  increasing  or 
developing  either  permanently  or  temporarily  the  special 
branches  best  fitted  for  handling  emergency  situations  is 
one  that  requires  constant  study  and  experiment. 

Police  Unions. 

The  strike  of  the  Boston  police  and  similar  difficulties 
in  London,  Liverpool  and  other  English  cities,  have  re- 
sulted in  a  widely  accepted  belief  that  in  the  public  inter- 
est the  right  to  strike  cannot  be  granted  to  police  bodies, 

318 


The  Rank  and  File 

nor  can  they  be  allowed  to  affiliate  with  other  labor  unions. 
The  policeman,  like  the  soldier,  occupies  a  unique  position 
in  the  community.  He  represents  the  slate  in  its  power 
to  compel  ol)ediencc.  As  an  agent  of  the  government  he 
exercises  its  nltini;.te  torce.  In  this  capacity  he  is  respon- 
sible solely  to  the  legal  representatives  of  the  community, 
and  control  cannot  b"  permitted  to  drift  into  the  hands 
of  any  other  ni'.n.  If  ihe  armed  agency  of  the  state  for 
compelling  obedience  assun.es  to  determine  for  itself  the 
conditions  under  which  it  will  obey  the  state,  then  the 
jirinciple  of  ordered  majorit}-  rule  is  destroyed,  and  in  its 
place  is  militarism. 

The  same  objections  hold  in  regard  to  the  affiliation  of 
the  police  with  organized  labor.  The  police  force  is  a 
public  instrument.  Its  allegiance  is  to  the  state.  It  is 
not  the  tool  of  any  class  or  subdivision  of  the  community. 
If  the  right  to  exercise  the  ultimate  force  of  the  state  is 
surrendered  to  any  special  interest,  if  the  police  depart- 
ment loses  its  neutrally  minded  character  and  becomes 
representative  of  a  particular  fraction  of  the  community, 
the  state  as  a  public  instrument  ceases  to  exist.  Indeed 
such  a  course  would  immediately  provoke  a  reaction. 
Other  classes  in  the  com?hunity,  having  lost  confidence  in 
the  police,  would  proceed  to  organize  militia,  constabu- 
laries and  vigilance  committees  of  their  own,  and  the  re- 
sult would  be  chaos.  The  subordination  of  armed  force 
to  the  legal  state,  and  the  principle  that  the  legal  state 
represents  the  common  interest,  without  regard  to  class, 
lie  at  the  basis  of  social  progress. 

^  li  this  point  of  view  is  accepted,  if  in  the  public  inter- 
est the  right  to  ..frike  :inf'  to  afh1i:ii':'\  ith  organized  labor 

3^9 


American  Police  Systems 

is  denied  the  police,  the  legal  representatives  of  the  com- 
munity are  under  peculiar  obligations  not  only  to  deal 
sympathetically  and  generously  with  the  genuine  griev- 
ances of  the  police,  but  by  continual  study  and  observation 
to  forestall  such  grievances  before  they  can  gain  a  foot- 
hold. This  is  a  point  which  seems  to  have  escaped  the 
attention  of  many  commentators.  Five  years  before  the 
London  police  strike  of  1918,  it  was  palpable  to  an  out- 
sider that  the  "  Bobby  "  could  not  live  decently  on  such 
wages  as  he  was  then  receiving.^  And  yet  in  the  ensuing 
period,  through  an  era  of  rising  prices,  his  endeavors  — 
tactless  and  ill-conceived,  perhaps  —  to  have  his  griev- 
ances considered  by  his  superiors,  met  with  scant  courtesy 
and  meagre  result.^  Similarly  in  many  American  cities 
—  and  among  them  is  Boston  —  it  has  been  apparent  for 
years  that  the  police  were  underpaid.  They  have  ap- 
pealed to  their  superiors,  they  have  appeared  before 
finance  committees  and  councils,  they  have  taken  their 
claims  to  the  public  through  the  press  —  too  often  with 
no  result,  sometimes,  indeed,  meeting  with  nothing  but 
brusqueness  and  abuse.  There  are  large  cities  in  the 
United  States  today  whose  policemen  are  paid  less  than 
one  hundred  dollars  a  month,  from  which  they  must  pur- 
chase their  uniforms  and  equipment.  There  are  many 
other  cities  where  the  police  work  seven  days  a  week  or 
where  their  hours  of  employment  are  inexcusably  long. 
There  are  cities  where  the  conditions  surrounding  the 
life  of  the  men  in  station  houses  are  a  disgrace  to  the 

1  See  European  Police  Systems,  pp.  242-244. 

2  For   discussion,   see   interesting   series   of   articles    (anonymous) 
appearing  in  the  London  Times,  April  1st,  2nd  and  3rd,  1919. 

320 


The  Rank  and  File 

community  that  tolerates  them.  If  the  police  may  not 
strike  to  improve  their  situation,  and  if  they  may  not 
affiliate  with  organized  labor,  then  the  community  that 
employs  them  owes  them  a  responsibility  which  up  to  the 
present  time,  certainly,  it  has  not  fulfilled.  It  cannot  strip 
them  of  the  weapons  of  clefense  which  other  workers 
have,  and  at  ihe  same  lime  ignore  their  just  claims  be- 
cause they  are  pressed  merely  by  argument.' 

1  Very  interesting  legislation  ha>  recently  been  passed  by  the  British 
Parliament  as  a  result  of  the  police  strikes  in  England  in  the  summer 
of  1919.  A  Police  Federation  was  created,  consisting  of  all  mem- 
bers of  the  loiice  forces,  both  county  and  municipal,  in  England 
and  \\  ales.  The  members  of  each  separate  i)olice  force  are  consti- 
tuted into  three  Branch  Boards,  one  fur  Cf  istables,  one  for  sergeants 
and  one  for  inspeciors.  Branch  Boards  may  submit  their  gri''v- 
ances  or  other  representations  to  the  chitf  of  pohce,  and  also  to 
the  Secretary  of  State  for  Home  Atifairs,  who  i''  charged  vvHh  the 
responsibility  for  police  arrangements  in  England  and  \\'ales.  The 
members  of  each  Board  annually  elect  a  delegate  or  delegates  to  a 
Central  Conferen-'f,  made  up  o?  representatives  elected  hy  the 
members  of  thv  branch  Boards  of  corresponding  rank  of  all  i.'olice 
forces  of  England  and  Wales.  Thus  there  are  three  Central  Con- 
ferences —  one  for  constables,  one  for  sergeants  and  one  for  inspec- 
tors, and  their  annual  meetings  are  held  in  Noxember.  The  mem- 
i;ers  of  each  Conference  elect  a  Central  Committee  of  >i-c  members, 
and  the  three  Central  Commit;oes,  or  any  two  of  them,  may  by 
agreement,  sit  tog  'ther  at  a  Joint  Committee.  The  Central  Com- 
mittee, either  separately  or  as  a  Joint  Conimittec.  may  submit  rep- 
resentJ^ions  in  writing  to  the  Scretary  of  State,  and  in  matters  of 
importance  the  Secretary  of  State  will  give  any  Committee- or  a 
ileputation  from  the  Committee  a  personal  hearing.  .Ml  regulations 
as  regards  the  government,  mutual  aid,  pay,  allowances,  pensions, 
clothing,  expenses,  and  conditions  of  service  of  tlij  members  of  the 
police  forces  of  England  and  \\  ales  are  submitted  for  the  considera- 
tion of  the  Joint  Committee  before  promulgation,  and  the  Secretary 
of  State  is  bound  to  consider  any  representations  made  by  this 
Committee  l>efore  puuing  the  reg-ilations  into  erf<?ct.  (For  a  fuller 
description  of  the  operation  of  this  legislation,  see  Q  &  10  Geo.  5, 
Chap.  46,  and  the  schedule  attached  thereto.) 


321 


American  Police  Systems 

The  Police  and  Industrial  Disturbance. 

We  have  said  that  the  police  force  is  a  public  instru- 
ment for  the  protection  of  life  and  property  and  the  pres- 
ervation of  order,  that  its  allegiance  is  to  all  the  people, 
and  that  it  is  not  the  tool  of  any  class  or  subdivision  of 
the  community.  Upon  this  principle  we  base  the  objec- 
tion to  the  affiliation  of  the  police  with  organized  labor. 
No  one  can  intensively  study  the  work  of  the  police  in 
American  cities,  however,  without  realizing  that  this  same 
principle  is  frecjuently  violated  in  respect  to  other  class 
interests  than  those  of  labor  unionism.  The  police  are 
often  used  on  behalf  of  employers  as  against  employees  in 
circumstances  which  do  not  justify  their  interference  at 
all.  This  has  been  especially  true  in  the  handling  of 
strikes.  Lawful  picketing  has  been  broken  up,  the  peace- 
ful meetings  of  strikers  have  been  brutally  dispersed,  their 
publicity  has  been  suppressed,  and  infractions  of  ordi- 
nances which  would  have  gone  unnoticed  had  the  violators 
been  engaged  in  another  cause,  have  been  ruthlessly  pun- 
ished. Sometimes,  too,  arrests  have  been  made  on 
chjirges  whose  baselessness  the  police  confidentially  admit. 
"  We  lock  them  up  for  disorderly  conduct,''  a  chief  of 
police  told  me  when  I  asked  him  about  his  policy  in  regard 
to  strikes  and  strikers.  "  Obstructing  the  streets "  is 
another  elastic  charge  often  used  on  such  occasions. 
Sometimes  the  arbitrary  conduct  of  the  police  passes  be- 
lief. Newspapers  favoring  the  strikers'  cause  have  been 
confiscated  and  printing  establishments  closed  on  the  sup- 
position that  they  would  "  incite  to  riot."  Meetings  of 
workingmen  have  been  prohibited  or  broken  up  on  the 

322 


The  Rank  and  File 

theory  that  the  men  were  planning  a  strike,  and  specific 
individuals  have  been  denied  the  right  to  speak  for  the 
reason  that  they  were  "  labor  organizers.''  "  I  have  this 
strike  broken  and  I  mean  to  keep  it  broken,"  a  director 
of  public  safety  told  me,  as  if  breaking  strikes  were  one 
of  the  regular  functions  of  the  police.  I  asked  the  chief 
of  police  of  a  large  industrial  city  on  what  legal  ground 
he  denied  the  privilege  of  assembly  to  the  striking  op- 
erators of  an  extensive  plant.  "  We  assume  that  their 
meeting-halls  are  disorderly  houses,"  he  replied.  "  Det- 
rimental to  the  public  welfare  "  is  the  easy  generalization 
with  which  the  rights  of  citizens  are  often  over-ridden  by 
the  police,  apparently  on  the  theory  that  the  interests  of 
employers  are  necessarily  identical  with  public  interests. 
The  industrial  cities  of  northern  New  Jersey,  of  Penn- 
sylvania, and  of  Illinois,  furnish  ample  substantiation  of 
this  indictment. 

The  situation  in  this  respect  is  apt  to  be  at  its  worst 
when  the  mayor  or  commissioner  of  public  safety  is 
himself  an  officer  of  a  large  industrial  plant,  or  when  the 
chief  of  police  comes  under  the  influence  of  a  commercial 
association,  some  of  whose  members,  perhaps,  are  parties 
to  the  conflict.  Under  such  circumstances,  strikers  have 
frequently  been  hounded  and  punished,  often  with  physi- 
cal violence,  in  contravention  of  all  law'and  tradition  and 
the  principles  of  a  free  government. 

In  1917  Commissioner  Woods  of  New  York  issued  an 
order  to  his  force  in  connection  with  the  handling  of 
strikes  which  has  attracted  wide  attention  and  may 
well  serve  as  a  model.  It  reads  in  part  as  fol- 
lows : 

323 


American  Police  Systems 

"  The  duties  of  the  PoHce  Department  in  connection  with 
strikes  and  industrial  disturbances  are.  in  the  last  analysis, 
as  on  all  other  occasions,  to  protect  Life  and  Property,  and 
to  maintain  the  Public  Peace. 

"  Unless  otherwise  advised  by  the  Courts  or  Commanding 
Ofificers,  it  is  to  be  assumed  that  the  purposes  of  a  peaceful 
strike  are  legal. 

"  Since  such  affairs  are  often  accompanied  by  much  bit- 
terness and  hard  feeling  on  both  sides,  it  is  imperative  that 
the  Law  be  administered  with  the  utmost  impartiality. 

"  In  so  far  as  this  Department  is  concerned,  one  or  more 
employees  may  refuse  to  work,  and  one  or  more  employers 
may  refuse  to  hire  any  particular  person,  or  persons,  for 
such  reasons  as  may  seem  to  them  best,  or  for  no  reason 
at  all.  The  employees  who  have  gone  on  strike  may  gather 
in  front  of  one  or  any  number  of  places  where  they  were 
formerly  employed  and  address,  within  certain  limits,  such 
arguments  as  they  may  desire  to  their  fellow  workmen  who 
are  still  employed,  urging  them  to  go  on  strike.  Similar 
arguments  may  be  addressed  to  those  who  they  may  have 
reason  to  believe  are  considering  taking  their  former  posi- 
tions of  employment  either  permanently  or  temporarily  as 
strike-breakers.  The  strikers  or  their  sympathizers  may, 
also,  advise  prospective  customers  of  the  fact  that  they  are 
on  strike  and  the  nature  of  their  grievances  —  be  they  real 
or  supposed.  The  words  used,,  in  all  such  cases,  however, 
must  not  be  of  such  a  nature  as  to  incite  to  violence  or  offend 
public  decency. 

"  While  both  sides  to  such  a  controversy  have  the  right 
of  assembly,  no  violence  or  even  physical  contact  between 
opposing  factions  shall  be  permitted. 

"  The  right  of  the  strikers  to  conduct  peaceful  picketing 
has  been  upheld  by  the  Courts,  but  the  numbers  so  employed 

324 


The  Rank  and  File 

must  not  be  so  great  as  to  interfere  with  the  free  passage  of 
vehicles  or  pedestrians,  nor  by  their  very  number  to  con- 
stitute an  intimidation.  The  number  of  pickets  that  may  be 
lawfully  permitted  depends  upon  the  circumstances  of  the 
case,  such  as  the  width  of  the  street  and  the  sidewalk,  the 
number  of  employees  who  are  working,  the  number  and  size 
of  the  exits  to  the  building,  the  size  of  the  building,  and  the 
number  of  neutral  persons  using  the  sidewalk  or  thorough- 
fare in  question. 

*'  Members  of  the  police  Department  have  no  proper  of- 
ficial interest  in  the  merits  of  the  controversy,  and  their  ac- 
tion is  not  to  be  affected  thereby."  ^ 

It  must  be  repeated  that  the  police  owe  their  allegiance 
to  all  the  people  and  not  to  any  class  or  subdivision  of  the 
community.  To  use  them  in  behalf  of  any  special  in- 
terest, whether  that  interest  be  a  labor  union,  a  street- 
railroad  company,  or  an  industrial  plant,  is  to  destroy  the 
principle  of  ordered  majority  rule  upon  which  democracies 
depend. - 

^  Circular  Order  No.  19,  June  9,  1917. 

-  For  further  discussion  see  Woods'  Policeman  and  Public,  p.  67  ff., 
and  Police  Functions  in  Labor  Disputes,  an  address  by  Arthur 
Woods  before  the  City  Chib  of  New  York,  printed  in  the  New  York 
Evening  Post,  Nov.  18,  1916. 


'325 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE   DETECTIVE    FORCE 

The  detective  force. —  The  chief  of  the  detective  bureau. —  How 
he  is  selected. —  The  personnel  of  the  detective  bureau. —  Methods  of 
selection. —  Civil  service  versus  administrative  assignment. —  The 
training  of  detectives. — The  organization  of  the  detective  bureau. — 
Centralization  versus  decentralization. —  Too  frequent  changes  in 
organization  plans. —  Illustrations. —  Lack  of  co-ordination  in  de- 
tective work. —  Lack  of  business  methods  in  detective  work. —  Lack 
of  supervision  in  detective  work. —  Detective  record  systems. — 
Criminal  identification. —  Finger-prints  versus  Bertillon  system. — 
Need  of  national  bureau  for  identification  of  persons  and  property. 

We  have  now  to  consider  the  detective  bureau  —  a 
branch  of  the  poHce  service  as  essential  to  the  preserva- 
tion of  pubHc  security  as  the  uniformed  division  itself. 
Operating  for  the  most  part  after  crimes  have  been  com- 
mitted, its  duty  is  to  apprehend  those  offenders  who  have 
escaped  arrest  at  the  hands  of  the  uniformed  force.  To 
that  end  it  requires  a  degree  of  talent  and  specialization 
in  its  personnel  distinct  from  the  qualifications  of  the 
unifonned  men.  How  this  personnel  is  commanded, 
chosen  and  trained,  and  how  its  work  is  controlled  and 
guided  are  matters  discussed  in  this  chapter. 

The  Chief  of  the  Detective  Force. 

Heads  of  detective  bureaus  are  chosen  in  most  cases 
from  among  the  officers  of  the  uniformed  forces.  In 
some  cities  the  selection  is  made  by  the  administrative 

326 


The  Detective  Force 

head  of  the  department ;  in  a  few,  by  the  chief  of  police 
subject  to  confirmation  by  his  superior.  Almost  invaria- 
bly, therefore,  the  appointment  is  merely  an  assignment 
and  is  subject  to  change  at  the  discretion  of  the  head  of 
the  department. 

In  a  few  cities,  the  head  of  the  detective  bureau  is 
occasionally  appointed  from  civil  life  without  previous 
service  in  the  police  department.  While  on  its  face  this 
arrangement  might  seem  to  provide  some  advantage  in 
the  latitude  which  it  gives  in  selection,  in  actual  practice, 
due  obviously  to  politics  and  favoritism,  it  has  yielded 
poor  results.  In  East  St.  Louis  a  few  years  ago  a  man 
who  had  been  running  a  hat-cleaning  establishment  was 
selected  to  head  the  detective  force.  Recently  in  Pitts- 
burgh a  politician  without  previous  experience  in  police 
work  was  chosen  as  chief  of  the  bureau  of  detectives.  On 
the  whole  better  results  are  observable  when  the  chief  of 
detectives  is  recruited  from  the  ranks  of  the  detective 
bureau. 

The  same  evils  as  regards  rapid  shifts  in  personnel 
which  we  discussed  in  connection  with  the  chiefs  of  police 
are  to  be  found  in  relation  to  the  heads  of  detective 
bureaus.  Due  to  changes  in  political  control,  the  heads 
of  detective  forces  often  follow  one  another  in  rapid 
succession.  In  San  Francisco,  in  the  last  fourteen  years, 
there  have  been  eight  different  officers  commanding  the 
detective  force.  In  Chicago,  at  the  time  of  my  visit, 
there  had  been  four  heads  of  the  detective  bureau  in  as 
many  years.  Obviously  no  consistent  development  of 
detective  bureaus  can  be  maintained  under  such  circum- 
stances.    Only  as  a  responsible  official  is  given  time  to 

3-'7 


American  Police  Systems 

shape  and  mature  his  pohcies  and  work  over  a  term  of 
years  can  substantial  results  be  looked  for. 

Selection  of  Personnel. 

Members  of  the  detective  bureau  may  be  chosen  from 
the  uniformed  force  or  from  outside  the  police  depart- 
ment altogether.  The  former  course  is  the  rule  in  most 
cities  of  the  United  States.  In  only  a  very  few  cities, 
notably  Kansas  City,  Louisville,  Pittsburgh,  Memphis 
and  Birmingham,  are  detectives  ever  chosen  from  civil 
life  without  previous  service  as  uniformed  patrolmen. 
Pittsburgh  is  the  only  large  civil  service  city  in  which 
detectives  may  be  recruited  directly  from  civil  pursuits. 

Where  detectives  are  chosen  from  the  personnel  of  the 
police  force  the  selection  may  be  made  either  by  civil 
service  examination  or  by  direct  assignment  at  the  hands 
of  the  administrative  head  of  the  department.  The 
former  practice  is  followed  in  Chicago,  Philadelphia,  St. 
Louis, ^  Los  Angeles,  St.  Paul,  Dayton,  Portland,  (Ore.), 
and  a  few  other  cities.  The  latter  method  of  choosing 
detectives  —  whereby  the  administrative  head  of  the 
police  designates  certain  members  of  the  uniformed  force 
to  serve  in  this  grade  —  is  followed  in  New  York,  Cleve- 
land, Detroit,  Boston,  Washington,  San  Francisco,  New 
Orleans  and  many  other  cities. 

The  same  advantages  and  disadvantages  of  civil  service 
as  a  means  of  selection  and  promotion  which  we  noted  in 
connection  with  the  uniformed   force  are  obser viable  in 

1  In  St.  Louis  the  examination  for  detective  —  title  is  detective  ser- 
geant—  is  the  same  as  the  examination  to  the  grade  of  uniformed 
sergeant  of  police. 

328 


The  Detective  Force 

relation  to  the  detective  force.  Indeed,  the  short-com- 
inqs  of  civil  service  are,  if  possible,  even  more  pronounced 
in  its  application  to  the  detective  bureau  than  to  the  uni- 
formed rank.  For  no  written  examination  can  fairly  test 
the  peculiar  qualifications  of  a  successful  detective,  such 
as  ability  to  remember  faces,  developed  habits  of  observa- 
tion, aptness  in  securing  evidence  from  witnesses,  and 
above  all,  a  facility  in  obtaining  the  pertinent  and  essential 
facts  of  a  given  situation.  In  those  cities  in  which  civil 
service  requirements  are  not  in  force,  many  of  the  most 
successful  detectives,  who  achieve  the  best  results  in  iden- 
tifying and  arresting  pickpockets,  confidence  men  and 
other  specialists  in  crime,  are  without  any  ability  to  pass 
a  written  examination.  The  services  of  these  men  would 
be  lost  to  a  city  in  which  promotion  to  the  grade  of 
detective  was  determined  by  civil  service  examination. 

The  result  of  the  attempt  to  apply  civil  service  tests  is 
seen  in  such  cities  as  Philadelphia  and  Chicago,  where 
men  are  selected  as  detectives  often  without  any  of  the 
special  qualifications  required  for  the  task.  In  both  these 
cities  the  heads  of  the  detective  bureau,  at  the  time  of  my 
visit,  were  emphatic  in  denouncing  the  quality  of  the 
personnel  through  whom  they  were  forced  to  carry  on 
their  work.  "  ^len  are  appointed  detectives  who  might 
make  good  clerks  or  school  teachers,"  said  the  head  of 
the  detective  bureau  of  Philadelphia,  "but  they  do  not 
know  how  to  catch  crooks." 

An  even  greater  difficulty  is  presented  by  reason  of 
the  fact  that  under  civil  service  regulations  a  man  who 
obtains  the  permanent  rank  of  detective  is  practically 
"  fixed  "    for  the  rest  of   his  career,   regardless  of  the 

329 


American  Police  Systems 

results  which  he  may  achieve  in  the  prosecution  of  his 
work.  He  is  "  frozen  into  his  job  " —  to  use  the  poHce 
expression.  He  may  be  totally  without  positive  qualifica- 
tions; he  may  not  possess  the  enthusiasm  for  the  task  so 
essential  in  a  good  detective ;  he  may  be  clearly  outranked 
in  ability  by  a  score  of  men  in  the  department  who  are  not 
on  the  detective  force ;  nevertheless,  his  position  as  detect- 
ive is  fixed  for  the  present  and  future  because  of  his 
success  in  answering  a  series  of  written  questions  years 
before.  Only  as  dishonesty  is  conclusively  proved  against 
him  is  there  any  practical  prospect  of  removing  him.  A 
former  chief  of  the  Chicago  department  told  me  that  when 
he  assumed  his  duties  in  that  position  he  knew  that  the 
detective  bureau  was  honey-combed  with  inefficiency  and 
corruption,  but  that  during  his  career  as  chief  he  did  not 
remove  or  demote  a  single  detective  because  he  was 
unable  to  obtain  the  necessary  proof.  "  The  old  gang  was 
still  in  the  saddle  when  I  left,"  he  said. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  cannot  be  denied  that  the  lack  of 
civil  service  standards  in  the  selection  of  detectives  often 
opens  up  the  entire  force  to  politics  of  a  mean  and  petty 
sort.  Inasmuch  as  assignment  to  detective  work  carries 
with  it  a  certain  measure  of  personal  freedom  as  well  as 
the  prestige  which  goes  with  a  higher  quality  of  work 
and  additional  compensation,  it  is  much  sought  after.  In 
San  Francisco,  at  the  time  of  my  visit,  the  entire  detective 
bureau  was  shot  through  with  politics,  and  assignments  to 
this  grade  were  the  inevitable  result  of  "  pull  "  and  fav- 
oritism. While  the  rest  of  the  force  in  this  city  had  been 
partly  freed  from  politics,  these  sinister  influences  had 
not  yet  been  driven  from  the  detective  bureau.     Similarly 

330 


The  Detective  Force 

in  Atlanta  appointments  to  the  detective  bureau  have  all 
too  often  been  the  result  of  political  affiliations  recog- 
nized by  the  board  of  police  commissioners.  In  Pitts- 
burg, where  detectives  may  be  chosen  from  civil  life,  the 
results  are  far  from  satisfactory.  "  They  are  not  detect- 
ives, they  are  politicians,"  a  high  ranking  officer  of  the 
uniformed  force  told  the  investigator. 

On  the  whole,  however,  in  spite  of  the  unhealthy  con- 
ditions which  often  surround  the  appointment  of  detect- 
ives in  departments  where  no  civil  service  standards  are 
applied  in  their  selection,  it  cannot  be  denied  that  better 
results  are  obtained  when  the  administrative  head  of  the 
force  is  free  to  appoint  the  best  men  or  to  demote  those 
incumbents  in  the  detective  rank  who  have  not  measured 
up  to  their  tasks.  Certainly,  in  large  cities  like  New 
York,  Boston,  Cleveland  and  Detroit  this  method  has 
brought  a  measurable  degree  of  satisfaction.  It  centers 
upon  the  head  of  the  force  a  responsibility  which  cannot 
be  evaded.  It  provides  a  constant  stimulus  to  the  mem- 
bers of  the  detective  force;  and  while  men  are  undoubt- 
edly often  demoted  for  no  worthy  motive,  the  fear  that 
such  demotion  may  follow  poor  work  tends  to  keep  the 
entire  bureau  constantly  on  the  alert. 

Training  of  Detectives. 

No  standardized  method  obtains  in  American  cities  for 
training  detectives.  In  many  departments  the  men  are 
assigned  to  their  new  duties  as  if  no  training  or  special 
aptitude  were  necessary  at  all.  In  some  cities,  however, 
notably  Boston,  Seattle,  Newark  and  Detroit,  an  effort  is 
made  to  establish  a  period  of  apprenticeship  in  which  men 

33^ 


American  Police  Systems 

are  assigned  to  plainclothes  duty  for  the  investigation  of 
vice  and  minor  complaints  either  in  their  own  precincts 
or  as  members  of  special  squads  operating  from  head- 
quarters. In  no  cities,  with  the  exception  of  Berkeley, 
(Cal.),  are  any  efiforts  made  to  provide  formal  specialized 
instruction  as  a  method  of  training  the  personnel  of  the 
detective  force.  The  experiment  begun  under  Commis- 
sioner Woods  in  New  York,  of  courses  of  instructions 
for  detectives,  was  never  followed  in  other  cities  and  has 
been  abandoned  even  in  New  York.  In  a  few  cities  de- 
tectives are  sometimes  included  in  the  training  courses 
given  for  the  members  of  the  uniformed  force,  but  they 
receive  no  instruction  peculiarly  applicable  to  detective 
work. 

This  is  in  marked  contrast  with  the  system  followed 
in  Continental  Europe,  where  detective  schools  and 
courses  are  often  maintained  as  part  of  the  machinery 
of  the  police  department.  In  Vienna,  for  example,  while 
the  detective  school  is  not  allowed  to  interrupt  the  regular 
duties  of  the  men,  it  involves  two  hours  a  day  in  lectures 
and  recitations,  and  covers  a  period  of  six  months.  Sim- 
ilarly in  Paris  the  detectives  are  obliged  each  year  to 
attend  a  series  of  lectures  in  connection  with  their  work. 
In  England,  on  the  other  hand,  the  training  of  detectives 
takes  the  form  of  apprenticeship  in  plainclothes  duty, 
handling  such  special  problems  as  betting,  street-begging 
and  prostitution.  Those  who  show  aptitude  and  intelli- 
.gence  in  this  line  of  work  are  promoted  to  the  detective 
force. 

It  is  doubtful  whether  in  American  police  departments 
at  the  present  time  any   formal  school  instruction  as  a 

332 


The  Detective  Force 

method  of  training  detectives  is  practicable.  Most 
detective  forces  are  too  small  to  justify  elaborate  arrange- 
ments, and  such  courses  of  instruction  as  are  given  in 
Vienna  in  physical  science,  photography,  criminology  and 
other  subjects  would  have  little  applicability  to  the  average 
American  detective  bureau  in  its  present  state  of  develop- 
ment. On  the  other  hand,  in  large  cities  which  contain 
colleges  or  universities  it  would  easily  be  possible  to 
arrange  special  courses  for  detectives  and  other  police 
officers  in  subjects  adapted  to  their  day-to-day  work. 
Such  an  arrangement  has  been  effected  between  the  Berk- 
eley police  department  and  the  University  of  California, 
and  has  been  proposed  for  the  Chicago  force  in  conjunc- 
tion with  Northwestern  University.^ 

Organisation  of  the  Detective  Bureau. 

.  There  are  two  prevailing  types  of  internal  organization 
of  detective  bureaus  in  American  cities :  the  centralized 
bureau,  operated  at  headquarters,  and  the  decentralized 
bureau  working  largely  from  precincts  or  other  sub-units. 
Of  these,  the  decentralized  bureau  is  the  more  common 
type  in  the  larger  cities  where  the  uniformed  force  is  dis- 
tributed geographically  by  precincts  or  districts.  This 
plan  of  organization  is  in  effect  in  such  cities  as  Chicago, 
Detroit,  Boston,  Buffalo,  San  Francisco  and  others.  In 
each  of  these  cities,  however,  there  is  a  small  central 
division  at  headquarters,  together  with  special  groups, 
such  as  pickpocket,   pawn-shop  and  automobile  squads, 

'  During  Commissioner  Woods'  regime  in  New  York  an  interest- 
ing experiment  was  made  of  giving  courses  in  criminal  law  at 
Columbia  University  to  such  members  of  the  police  department  as 
applied. 


American  Police  Systems 

which  work  from  headquarters  and  operate  over  the  whole 
city;  but  the  bulk  of  general  detective  work  is  done  by 
detectives  attached  to  precincts  generally  under  the  com- 
mand of  uniformed  officers,  who  also  have  charge  of  the 
operations  of  the  uniformed  forces  in  those  precincts. 
The  precinct  detectives  are  assigned  to  work  on  specific 
complaints  arising  in  their  respective  territories.  In 
important  cases  the  central  division  of  the  detective  bureau 
is  called  upon  to  assist  or  perhaps  to  take  complete  charge 
of  the  investigation. 

The  completely  centralized  bureau  is  found  in  such 
cities  as  Birmingham,  Indianapolis,  Newark,  Baltimore 
and  Denver.  In  these  cities  all  detectives  are  assigned  to 
the  headquarters'  office  and  the  control  of  their  work  is 
centered  in  the  hands  of  one  man  who  serves  as  a  com- 
manding officer.  Under  this  plan  the  work  of  general 
criminal  investigation  and  of  special  squads,  is  carried  on 
from  a  single  central  office. 

There  has  been  much  discussion  regarding  the  relative 
merits  of  centralization  and  decentralization,  and  no 
general  conclusion  can  be  reached  as  to  the  superiority  of 
either  of  these  plans.  Aside  from  considerations  of 
actual  detective  operations,  the  geographical  size  of  a  city, 
the  number  of  detectives  employed,  and  the  existing  or- 
ganization of  the  uniformed  force  are  factors  which  ma- 
terially influence  the  question.  Those  who  favor  the 
decentralized  bureau  point  out  that  detectives  should  work 
in  comparatively  small  districts,  where  they  may  become 
thoroughly  familiar  with  neighborhood  conditions  and 
with  the  people  residing  there.  It  is  claimed  also  that 
there  are  definite  advantages  to  be  derived  from  having 

.  334 


The  Detective  Force 

the  detectives  stationed  in  precincts  witli  uniformed  men, 
for  the  reason  that  this  close  association  makes  possible  a 
greater  degree  of  cooperation  between  the  two  branches 
of  the  police  service.  Finally  it  is  contended  that  quicker 
action  can  be  given  on  complaints  when  the  men  are  al- 
ready distributed  throughout  the  city  ready  to  undertake 
work  in  the  small  areas  to  which  they  are  assigned. 

The  advocates  of  centralization,  on  the  other  hand, 
contend  that  there  is  need  for  specialization  in  criminal 
investigations  which  cannot  be  effected  when  detectives 
are  distributed  throughout  precinct  units,  and  that  better 
control  of  operations  results  when  all  the  detectitves  are 
included  in  one  unit  of  organization  and  under  the  more 
immediate  direction  of  the  chief  detective  officer.  It  is 
claimed  also  that  uniform  standards  of  detective  work 
can  be  applied  throughout  the  wdiole  city  under  the  cen- 
tralized bureau,  whereas  with  decentralization  there  may 
be  as  many  ways  of  conducting  criminal  investigations  as 
there  are  precinct  commanders. 

The  claims  for  both  plans  are  largely  met  in  the  modi- 
fied form  of  centralized  bureau  which  was  in  effect  in 
New  York  from  19 14  to  19 18  and  is  in  effect  at  the  pres- 
ent time  in  St.  Louis.  The  detective  bureau  under  such 
a  plan  consists  of  a  detective  headquarters'  division  and 
detective  branch  offices.  In  New  York  there  were  nine 
such  detective  ofiices,  as  compared  with  more  than  eighty 
precinct  stations ;  in  St.  Louis  there  are  six  detective 
branches  and  thirteen  police  districts.  This  arrangement 
makes  possible  the  concentration  of  a  sufficient  number  of 
detectives  at  the  central  office  to  permit  of  specialization, 
and  at  the  same  time  it  places  men  in  localities  small 

335 


American  Police  Systems 

enough  to  enable  them  to  become  acquainted  with  local 
conditions.  Even  though  detectives  are  distributed  over 
the  city,  they  are  subject  to  the  direct  control  of  the 
central  office,  and  the  head  of  the  detective  bureau  can 
view  in  the  large  the  crime  problem  of  the  entire  city, 
and  can  make  immediate  disposition  of  his  men  to  meet 
changing  conditions. 

Under  both  the  centralized  and  decentralized  system, 
small  special  squads  are  maintained  at  headquarters  under 
the  direct  supervision  of  the  commanding  officer  of  the 
detective  bureau.  These  squads  devote  their  attention 
to  the  detection  and  apprehension  of  pickpockets,  bad 
check  passers,  automobile  thieves  and  other  specialists  in 
crime.  In  the  New  York  detective  bureau  the  following 
special  squads  are  organized  at  headquarters :  homicide, 
safe  and  loft,  pickpocket,  automobile  theft,  gangster,  nar- 
cotic, bomb,  truck  and  wagon,  and  industrial  squad.  In 
Detroit  there  are  Italian,  automobile  recovery,  homicide 
and  pawnshop  squads.  Similar  groupings  are  to  be 
found  in  most  of  the  large  cities  of  the  country. 

Detective  bureaus  often  suffer  fvom  too  frequent  alter- 
ations in  the  plan  of  organization.  Each  new  head  has 
his  own  ideas  and  changes  are  of  frequent  occurrence. 
Occasionally  the  centralized  and  decentralized  plans  are 
alternated  to  suit  the  notions  of  each  successive  incumbent 
without  giving  either  plan  a  chance  to  prove  itself.  In 
New  York,  for  example,  during  the  fourteen-year  period 
from  1906  to  1920,  the  detective  bureau  was  reorganized 
four  times.  Prior  to  1906  the  bureau  was  centralized  at 
police  headquarters.  In  addition,  detectives  and  plain- 
clothes men  were  operating  in  the  precincts   but  were 

336 


The  Detective  Force 

not  under  the  control  of  the  detective  bureau  organiza- 
tion. During  General  Bingham's  incuni])oncy  as  police 
commissioner  the  bureau  was  decentralized,  being  divided 
into  sixteen  districts  to  correspond  with  the  inspection 
districts  of  the  uniformed  force  organization.  Each  of 
the  sixteen  divisions  was  under  the  control  of  a  detective 
division  commander,  and  the  uni  formed  officers  in  charge 
of  inspection  districts  had  nothing  to  do  with  detective 
work.  In  1912  Commissioner  Waldo  abolished  the  sys- 
tem of  detective  divisions  and  re-established  the  precinct 
as  the  unit  of  detective  work,  under  the  control  and  im- 
mediate direction,  however,  of  detective  officers.  The 
next  change  came  under  Commissioner  Woods  in  19 14, 
when  the  bureau  was  reorganized  with  a  headquarters' 
staff  and  with  nine  branch  offices  operating  in  geograph- 
ical districts  which  did  not  coincide  with  any  scheme  of 
districting  used  by  the  uniformed  force.  The  next  reor- 
ganization came  under  Commissioner  Enright  in  19 18 
when  the  precinct  was  again  made  the  unit  of  detective 
bureau  organization. 

St.  Louis  has  also  made  rapid  changes  from  one  plan 
to  another.  Prior  to  191 2  plainclothes  men  or  detectives 
were  assigned  to  patrol  districts  under  uniformed  cap- 
tains of  police.  In  1912  the  city  was  divided  into  six 
detective  districts,  under  the  command  of  detective 
officers,  and  the  captains  of  police  no  longer  had 
precinct  detectives.  After  approximately  a  year  and 
a  half  of  this  regime  the  detective  branch  districts  were 
abolished  and  the  precinct  plan  re-established.  In  the 
early  part  of  19 19  the  system  of  detective  branches  was 
again  adopted.     Arbitrary  changes  of  this  kind,  generally 

337 


American  Police  Systems 

following  upon  shifts  in  political  control,  make  con- 
structive development  of  the  detective  bureau  next  to 
impossible. 

Lack  of  Co-ordination  in  Detective  Work. 

In  a  number  of  cities  some  confusion  exists  in  the  mat- 
ter of  the  relation  of  the  detective  bureau  to  the  uni- 
formed force  in  handling  complaints  of  crime.  This  is 
true  notably  in  Boston,  San  Francisco  and  Pittsburgh. 
In  these  cities  no  definite  rules  of  procedure  have  been 
established  to  determine  which  branch  of  the  service  shall 
be  responsible  for  taking  charge  of  an  investigation  of 
particular  complaints  of  crime.  Sometimes  both  branches 
conduct  an  investigation  of  the  same  complaint.  In  Bos- 
ton members  of  the  uniformed  force  are  permitted  to 
complete  an  investigation  begun  by  them  even  though  the 
detective  bureau  may  be  better  equipped  to  do  the  work. 
This  practice  has  been  allowed  to  continue  apparently  in 
deference  to  the  professional  pride  of  the  uniformed  men, 
A  situation  directly  opposed  to  the  Boston  practice  pre- 
vails in  San  Francisco,  where  members  of  the  detective 
bureau  are  assigned  to  cases  in  which  arrests  of  felony 
charges  have  been  made  by  members  of  the  uniformed 
force,  the  assumption  being  that  a  uniformed  man  is  not 
as  well  fitted  to  present  a  felony  case  in  court  as  is  a 
detective.  In  Pittsburgh  both  the  central  office  detectives 
and  precinct  plainclothes  men  do  detective  work,  but  the 
head  of  the  detective  force  has  no  control  over  the  work 
done  by  precinct  men.  Consequently,  both  plainclothes 
men  from  precincts  and  detectives  from  headquarters  may 
work  on  the  same  case,  and  there  is  no  rule  to  determine 

338 


The  Detective  Force 

which  group  shall  supersede  the  other  if  any  conflict  of 
authority  arises.  A  dual  investigation  sometimes,  indeed, 
a  competitive  investigation  is  the  result.  This  confu- 
sion of  authority  and  responsibility  exists  in  a  lesser 
degree  in  a  large  number  of  cities  in  which  plainclothes 
men  attached  to  precincts  are  assigned  to  investigate  minor 
complaints  of  crime,  especially  where  the  borderline 
between  minor  and  major  complaints  is  not  clearly 
drawn.  Under  such  arrangements  friction  and  jealousy 
between  the  two  major  branches  of  service  are  bound  to 
occur. 

Obviously,  the  department's  rules  of  procedure  should 
establish  a  clear-cut  division  of  authority  and  responsibil- 
ity, and  should  indicate  the  method  of  cooperation  l:)e- 
tween  the  two  branches  in  the  solution  of  crimes.  From 
the  time  the  complaint  is  received  until  the  case  is  pre- 
sented in  court  no  ambiguity  should  be  allowed  to  exist 
as  to  the  precise  part  which  the  representatives  of  either 
branch  will  play. 

Lack  of  Business  Methods  in  Detective  Bureaus. 

One  of  the  outstanding  facts  disclosed  by  an  investiga- 
tion of  detective  bureaus  in  America  is  the  amazing  lack 
of  ordinary  business  system  in  the  prosecution  of  the 
work.  The  head  of  a  detective  force  deals  with  crimes 
which  come  to  him  generally  in  the  shape  of  specific  com- 
plaints. It  would  seem,  therefore,  that  some  knowledge 
of  the  relation  between  complaints  and  arrests  —  that  is, 
between  crimes  known  to  the  police  and  crimes  "  cleaned 
up  " —  was  absolutely  indispensable  to  adequate  super- 
vision.    In  only  a  few  police  departments,  however,  are 

339 


American  Police  Systems 

records  maintained  upon  which  this  knowledge  can  be 
based.  Indeed  in  only  a  few  cases  in  the  course  of  the 
investigation  were  officers  encountered  who  could  under- 
stand why  such  knowledge  was  necessary.  In  most  de- 
partments the  records  of  complaints  have  no  relation  to 
the  records  of  arrests,  with  the  result  that  it  is  impossible 
for  the  head  of  the  department  to  establish  any  standard 
for  measuring  the  effectiveness  of  his  effort. 

In  city  after  city  the  item  of  arrests,  regardless  of  com- 
plaints or  crimes  knozvn  to  the  police,  is  the  only  informa- 
tion at  hand.  The  annual  reports  of  most  chiefs  of 
police  in  the  United  States  solemnly  set  forth  the  number 
of  arrests  during  the  preceding  year,  as  if  this  number, 
large  or  small  as  it  may  be,  were  something  of  a  badge  of 
distinction  —  a  certificate  that  time  had  not  been  wasted. 
In  Kansas  City  the  chief  of  police  boasted  that  in  the 
current  year  his  force  had  made  15,000  more  arrests  than 
during  the  previous  year.  It  seems  unnecessary  to  point 
out  that  the  bare  figure  of  arrests,  even  when  classified 
according  to  crimes,  is  utterly  meaningless.  As  we  have 
already  seen,^  it  may  be  interpreted  in  any  one  of  half 
a  dozen  ways.  A  large  figure  may  mean  an  excess  in 
crime,  or  it  may  mean  over-zeal  on  the  part  of  the  police 
force  in  making  unnecessary  arrests.  Judging  from  the 
activities  of  the  police  in  many  American  cities,  this  latter 
interpretation  is  too  often  true.  Similarly,  a  small  num- 
ber of  arrests  may  mean  a  low  crime  rate,  or  it  may  be 
interpreted  in  terms  of  negligent  police  work.  To  com- 
pare the  number  of  arrests  in  1919  with  the  number  of 
arrests  in  1920  has  no  significance  whatever  and  is  utterly 

1  See  ante,  p.  250. 

340 


The  Detective  Force 

misleading.  It  is  only  as  arrests  for  crime  in  a  given 
period  are  balanced  against  the  crimes  known  to  the  police 
in  that  period  that  we  have  any  basis  for  measuring  the 
effectiveness  of  the  force. 

We  have  said  that  in  most  departments  the  records  of 
complaints  have  no  relation  to  the  records  of  arrests.  As 
a  matter  of  fact  in  many  police  departments  in  the  United 
States  no  records  of  complaints  are  kept  at  all,  or  if  kept 
they  are  not  compiled  in  such  fashion  as  to  serve  the  pur- 
poses of  supervision  and  control.  It  is  literally  true  that 
in  many  cities  such  as  Philadelphia,  Seattle,  San  Fran- 
cisco, New  Orleans,  Atlanta  and  Kansas  City,  neither 
the  chief  of  police  nor  the  head  of  the  detective  bureau 
has  any  idea  of  the  aggregate  number  of  burglaries,  rob- 
beries, larcenies,  or  any  other  crime,  occurring  within  his 
territory  from  week  to  week  or  month  to  month.  Xor 
are  there  any  records  in  these  departments  upon  the  basis 
of  which  such  information  can  be  obtained  without  labor- 
ious research.  In  these  cities,  therefore,  it  is  impossible 
for  the  head  of  the  force  to  know  whether  crime  is 
increasing  or  decreasing  over  a  given  period,  or  what 
success  his  department  is  achieving  in  solving  particular 
classes  of  crime.  In  short  he  has  no  precise  knowledge 
of  the  volume  of  the  business  he  is  handling  or  what 
results  are  being  obtained. 

Even  in  the  few  cities  where  an  analysis  of  crime  con- 
dition is  currently  made — notably  in  St.  Louis,  Chicago 
and  Cleveland  —  it  is  seldom  that  the  chief  of  police  or 
the  head  of  the  detective  bureau  makes  use  of  it  in  the 
day  to  day  direction  of  his  department.  This  is  due  in 
most  cases  to  lack  of  administrative  training.     The  use 

341 


American  Police  Systems 

of  such  instruments  of  management  as  statistics  of  work, 
daily  reports,  and  other  mechanical  aids  is  not  understood, 
and  perfunctory  attention  to  routine  takes  the  place  of 
informed  and  skillful  leadership. 

Lack  of  Supervision  in  Detective  Work. 

The  lack  of  ordinary  business  system  in  detective 
bureaus  is  further  shown  in  the  failure  to  control  the 
work  of  the  individual  operatives.  An  officer  of  the  New 
York  department  has  described  in  the  following  words 
the  condition  that  existed  in  his  force,  some  years  ago, 
before  an  adequate  system  of  supervision  was  installed: 
"  When  a  '  squeal '  came  in  over  the  telephone  the  lieu- 
tenant at  the  desk  wrote  it  down  on  a  piece  of  paper 
and  handed  it  to  a  detective.  *  Here  Bill,'  he'd  say,  '  look 
that  up.'  Bill  took  the  paper,  put  it  in  his  pocket,  and 
when  the  paper  wore  out  the  case  was  closed."  ^ 

This  condition  is  still  true  in  many  police  departments 
in  the  United  States.  Indeed,  in  not  a  few  of  them  not 
even  "  a  piece  of  paper  "  is  used  to  assign  a  case,  but  the 
matter  is  given  to  the  detective  orally  without  any  subse- 
quent check  or  follow-up.  Even  in  many  large  police 
departments  there  is  no  method  of  recording  currently  for 
purposes  of  supervision  the  cases  that  are  being  handled 
by  each  detective,  nor  is  there  any  way  by  which  the  head 
of  the  detective  force  can  keep  track  of  cases  pending. 
The  determination  of  these  essential  facts,  under  gener- 
ally existing  arrangements,  would  involve  laborious 
search  through  cumbersome  documents  and  journals, 
even  if  they  could  be  determined  at  all.     I  asked  the  head 

1  Quoted  in  Woods'  Crime  Prevention,  p.  17, 


The  Detective  Force 

of  the  Philadelphia  bureau,^  for  example,  how,  in  the 
absence  of  a  "  tickler  "'  or  other  record  system,  he  kept 
track  of  the  particular  cases  which  each  detective  was 
handling.  He  replied  that  if  he  wanted  the  information 
he  could  get  it  from  the  journals  in  which  complaints  of 
crime  are  entered  in  the  order  in  which  they  are  made. 
When  it  was  pointed  out  that  this  would  involve  a  great 
deal  of  work  and  long  delay,  he  replied  that  he  kept  the 
cases  in  his  head.  The  fact,  that  there  are  thousands  of 
cases  pending  and  that  they  often  run  over  a  period  of 
years  shows  the  absurdity  of  the  answer. 

Similarly  in  San  Francisco,  Seattle,  Newark,  Buffalo, 
New  Orleans  and  a  dozen  other  cities  of  size  and  import- 
ance the  heads  of  the  detective  bureaus  have  no  systematic 
method  for  keeping  track  of  or  following  up  the  work  of 
their  men.  Even  where  reports  from  the  detectives  are 
required  they  are  too  often  perfunctory  and  meaningless. 
In  Chicago,  for  example,  at  the  time  of  my  visit,  cases 
Avere  "  closed  "  as  far  as  the  detective  bureau  was  con- 
cerned, as  soon  as  the  detectives  filed  their  first  reports. 
These  reports  could  allege  in  general  terms  that  progress 
was  being  made  or  that  no  clues  had  been  discovered. 
Regardless  of  what  information  they  gave,  they  were 
filed  away  with  the  original  complaints,  and  that  was  the 
end  of  the  matter.  Thereafter,  if  the  dectectives  chose  to 
report  further,  their  records  were  simply  added  to  the 
original  file.  "  We  reopen  the  case  if  the  complainant 
hollers,"  I  was  frankly  told  by  one  of  the  officers.  Alto- 
gether the  system  was  as  shiftless  as  could  be  devised,  and 
the  wonder  was  not  that   thousands  of  cases  remained 

^  Since  retired. 

343 


American  Police  Systems 

unsolved,  but  that  any  criminals  at  all  were  ever  arrested. 

It  is  because  of  this  complete  lack  of  ordinary  business 
system  that  complaints  of  crime  can  be  "  lost "  or 
"  canned  " —  to  use  the  popular  police  word.  In  San 
Francisco,  for  example,  in  191 5,  the  records  of  the 
coroner's  office  showed  that  during  the  year  there 
were  54  cases  of  murder,  six  cases  of  manslaughter  and 
eleven  cases  of  justifiable  homicide.  The  records  in  the 
police  department,  however,  showed  but  39  cases  of 
murder,  four  of  manslaughter  and  seven  of  justifiable 
homicide.  In  other  words,  the  police  department  had  no 
record  of  twenty-one  homicides  occurring  during  the  year. 
The  fifteen  cases  of  murder,  of  which  the  police  had  no 
record,  were  all  found  recorded  in  the  detective  bureau 
as  felonious  assaults.^ 

A  similar  study  in  New  York,  based  on  comparisons 
between  the  records  of  the  police  department,  the  coroner's 
offices  and  the  district  attorneys"  offices,  brought  to  light 
the  fact  that  of  the  323  murder  and  manslaughter  cases 
reported  during  the  year  191 3,  the  police  department  had 
records  of  but  261 ;  while  in  1914,  of  292  such  cases  the 
department  had  record  of  only  209.  Of  the  t^2t,  cases  in 
19 1 3,  twenty  were  carried  in  the  records  of  the  detective 
bureau  under  such  classifications  as  "  felonious  assaults  " 
and  "  under  investigation,"  and  42  cases  were  not  recorded 
at  all.  Of  the  292  cases  in  19 14,  42  were  carried  as 
"  felonious  assaults  "'  or  "  under  investigation,"  and  in 
41  cases  there  was  no  record." 

1  See  Stirt'cy  Report  of  tlic  Government  of  the  City  and  County  of 
San  Francisco,  prepared  by  the  Bureau  of  Municipal  Research,  New 
York,  1916,  p.  214. 

2  See  A  report  of  the  study  of  Homicide  Records  in  the  Nezv 

344 


The  Detective  Force 

In  19 19  in  Chicago,  an  investigation  of  the  discrep- 
ancies between  crimes  reported  to  precinct  stations  and 
the  total  number  of  crimes  reported  to  the  central  depart- 
ment by  the  police  precincts  disclosed  the  fact  that  many 
crimes  of  violence  never  got  further  than  the  blotters  of 
the  local  police  stations.  It  was  found  for  instance,  that 
the  captain  of  a  certain  precinct  had  carelessly  or  inten- 
tionally failed  to  report  to  the  central  office  104  out  of 
141  crimes  reported  in  that  precinct  for  the  month;  that 
is,  out  of  141  crimes  of  violence  known  to  the  police,  a 
record  of  only  ^y  found  its  way  into  the  central  office  of 
the  department.  In  another  precinct  the  investigation 
disclosed  that  40  crimes  of  violence  occurring  during  a 
given  period  were  not  reported  to  the  central  office. 
\Mien  the  captain  of  this  precinct  was  asked  for  an  explan- 
ation, he  gave  as  his  reason  for  not  reporting  these  crimes 
the  fact  that  the  money  stolen  could  not  be  identified  and 
that  the  masked  burglars  could  not  be  recognized.     Appar- 

York  Police  Department,  igis-1914,  made  by  the  Bureau  of  Munic- 
ipal Research,  March,  1915.  This  report  contains  the  following  ad- 
ditional paragraph  on  the  homicides  in  1914 : 

"  Of  the  292  cases  occurring  in  the  year  1914,  the  records  of  which 
were  examined,  there  were  21  cases  in  which  the  manner  of  killing 
was  not  disclosed ;  94  cases  in  which  no  reference  to  the  possible 
motive  for  the  crime  was  made;  :i7  cases  in  which  the  age  of  the 
persons  arrested  in  connection  with  the  murder  was  not  recorded 
on  the  detective  bureau's  records ;  150  cases  in  which  the  age  or 
probable  age  of  the  persons  murdered  was  not  indicated;  38  cases 
in  which  the  nationality  or  birthplace  of  the  persons  arrested  in  con- 
nection with  murder  cases  did  not  appear;  165  cases  in  which  the 
nationality  of  the  persons  murdered  was  not  entered  upon  the  rec- 
ords ;  143  cases  in  which  there  was  no  description  to  indicate  the 
place  the  crime  occurred,  such  as  in  saloons,  in  homes,  upon  streets, 
etc. ;  49  cases  in  which  persons  accused  were  discharged  without  any 
reference  as  to  the  possible  cause  for  discharge,  such  as  insuffi- 
cient evidence,  wrong  persons  arrested,  etc.,  etc. ;  27  cases  in  which 
the  accused  was  discharged  from  custody,  of  which  the  records 
failed  to  show  the  authority  discharging  the  prisoners." 

345 


American  Police  Systems 

ently,  in  his  opinion,  therefore,  no  crimes  had  been  com- 
mitted I^ 

A  better  explanation  of  the  Chicago  situation  would 
probably  be  found  in  the  desire  —  shared  by  many  pre- 
cinct heads  and  even  chiefs  of  police  —  to  return  as  good 
a  crime  record  as  possible  for  their  particular  districts. 
A  reduction  of  crime  is  readily  accomplished  by  suppress- 
ing the  record  of  complaints — "  canning  the  squeals,"  to 
use  the  vivid  phraseology  o^  the  police.  That  this  prac- 
tice is  by  no  means  confined  to  Chicago  is  evidenced  not 
only  by  confidential  admissions  of  police  officers  in  vari- 
ous cities  but  by  the  startling  reductions  in  crime  statistics 
which  often  accompany  the  installation  of  a  new  police 
administration.^  Obviously,  nothing  is  gained  by  a  good 
record  system  if  dishonestly  used. 

Detective  Record  Systems. 

It  is  of  course  impossible  in  a  book  of  this  kind  to 
discuss  in  detail  the  various  report  and  record  systems 
necessary  in  a  well-equipped  detective  bureau.  In  several 
cities,  notably  St.  Louis,  Detroit  and  New  York,  a  num- 
ber of  admirable  records  are  maintained  which  can  be 
studied  with  profit,  although  they  vary  in  thoroughness 
and  practicability  with  changing  administrations.  Cer- 
tainly no  record  system  is  complete  which  does  not  afford 
the  head  of  the  detective  bureau  constant  control  over 
the  work  of  his  men  by  giving  him  at  a  glance  a  list  of 
the  cases  which  each  is  handling.     To  the  absence  of  this 

1  See  the  various  reports  of  the  Chicago  Crime  Commission,  par- 
ticularly the  account  of  this  Commission's  work  in  the  Journal  of 
Criminal  Law  and  Criminology,  Vol.  XI,  No.  i. 

2  See  ante,  p.  15,  note  2. 


The  Detective  Force 

information  and  control  may  be  ascribed  much  of  the 
careless  hit-or-miss  work  which  characterizes  many  of  our 
detective  bureaus  today.  Nor  can  a  record  system  be 
called  successful  which  fails  to  show  the  cases  pending  at 
a  given  moment,  classified  according  to  crimes,  so  that 
the  head  of  the  bureau,  as  well  as  the  chief  of  police,  has 
constantly  before  him  the  statistical  measure  of  his  accom- 
plishment or  failure.  Without  this  information  there  is 
no  way  of  ascertaining  the  weak  spots  in  the  department's 
work ;  consequently  the  force  cannot  be  shifted  to  meet 
new  problems  or  mobilized  to  attack  an  overwhelming 
outbreak  of  crime  in  a  particular  precinct. 

As  far  as  crime  records  are  concerned,  it  is  a  safe  gener- 
alization that  every  scrap  of  information  worthy  of  being 
recorded  on  a  precinct  police  blotter  is  worthy  of  pemian- 
ent  classification  at  police  headquarters,  whether  it  be  a 
complaint,  an  arrest,  a  fire,  a  lost  child  or  a  stray  animal. 
Sooner  or  later  all  this  information  is  useful  to  the  police 
in  the  prosecution  of  their  work.  Upon  its  careful  tab- 
ulation a  great  deal  of  their  success  depends.  Classifica- 
tions of  missing  persons,  or  stolen  property,  and  of  all 
sorts  of  crimes  and  criminals  are  increasingly  indispens- 
able to  police  forces  as  social  relationships  become  more 
complex,  and  the  problem  of  delinquency  more  difficult 
to  handle.  In  the  development  of  criminal  files  and 
indexes  America  has  lagged  far  behind  Europe.  No  city 
in  the  United  States  has  the  physical  equipment  in  this 
respect  possessed  by  Dresden,  for  example,  or  Vienna  or 
Stuttgart.  We  have  none  of  the  carefully  elaborated 
mechanical  aids  in  the  way  of  criminal  registers  which 
one  finds  in  most  of  the  important  cities  in  Continental 

347 


American  Police  Systems 

Europe.  All  of  Europe's  intricate  appliances  for  the 
apprehension  of  criminals  such  as  the  use  of  chemical  and 
physical  analyses,  the  extensive  application  of  photog- 
raphy, the  infinite  number  of  devices  for  establishing 
identification,  are  largely  missing  here.  At  least  they 
are  not  continuously  and  systematically  employed.^  In 
most  cities,  indeed,  they  are  not  known,  and  a  rule-of- 
thumb  method  takes  the  place  of  scientific  attention  to 
details." 

It  may  be  that  we  cannot  hope  for  any  particular  devel- 
opment in  this  field  until  our  police  departments  are  better 
stabilized  and  the  principle  of  continuity  of  administration 
is  firmly  established.  If  that  is  the  case  we  cannot  now 
expect  to  obtain  the  same  success  in  the  detection  of  crim- 
inals with  which  the  police  forces  of  Europe  are  so  often 
rewarded. 

Criminal  Identification. 

The  importance  of  an  accurate  method  of  identifying 
criminals  which  will  defeat  the  invention  of  an  alias,  or 
any  other  disguise,  is  well  understood.  Two  systems  of 
identification  have  been  widely  accepted  in  Europe  and 
the  United  States  —  the  finger-print  or  dactyloscopic 
method  and  the  measurement  or  Bertillon  method. 
Around  the  merits  of  these  two  principles  of  identifica- 
tion a  long  and  heated  controversy  has  raged,  with  the 
result  that  in  Europe  the  Bertillon  system  is  fast  being 
discarded  in  favor  of  finger-prints.     Only  in  France  today 

1  Berkeley,  Cal.,  has  made  probably  the  greatest  advance  in  this 
direction. 

-  For  a  discussion  of  European  methods  of  crime  detection,  see 
European  Police  Systems,  Chap.  IX. 

348 


i 


The  Detective  Force 

has  the  Bertillon  method  a  foothold.  American  police 
departments  have  been  slow  to  understand  the  significance 
of  the  controversy.  Uncertain  as  to  the  vaUdity  of  the 
arguments,  and  unwihing  to  lose  the  advantage  of  either 
method,  most  cities  at  the  cost  of  convenience  and  at  great 
expense  have  adopted  both.  To  maintain  two  elaborate 
files,  classified  on  a  different  basis,  when  one  will  ade- 
quately answer  the  purpose,  is  of  course  to  load  the 
department  with  a  cumbersome  routine  which,  particu- 
larly in  a  large  city,  with  its  many  prisoners  to  examine, 
is  practically  impossible  to  carry  out.  The  time  is  bound 
to  come  in  America,  therefore  —  and  in  some  cities  a 
beginning  has  already  been  made  ^  —  when  one  of  these 
systems  will  have  to  be  discarded.  In  point  of  simplicity 
and  accuracy  the  finger-print  method  is  so  far  superior  to 
the  Bertillon  method  that  there  is  no  question  as  to  its 
fitness  to  survive. 

These  facts  seem  to  be  unknown  in  many  of  the 
smaller  police  departments  in  the  United  States.  At  the 
very  time  that  European  cities  were  discarding  their  Ber- 
tillon cabinets  as  superfluous,  these  departments  were  busy 
installing  them.  I  visited  a  number  of  cities  that  were 
inaugurating  Bertillon  systems  for  the  first  time,  under 
the  impression  that  they  represented  the  latest  word  in  the 
identification  of  criminals.  One  cannot  escape  the  im- 
pression in  many  cities,  particularly  in  the  south  and 
middle  west,  that  both  finger-prints  and  Bertillon  meas- 
urements are  looked  upon  by  police  officials  as  something 

'  Not  a  few  American  cities  are  williiiR  now  to  discard  the  Ber- 
tillon system  except  for  the  fear  that  it  would  cut  them  off  from 
their  exchanges  with  other  cities  that  arc  reluctant  to  take  the  step. 

349 


American  Police  Systems 

of  a  charm  or  talisman  rather  than  as  scientific  methods 
of  identification.  Certainly  in  more  than  one  department 
that  I  visited,  where  not  a  single  officer  understood  the 
principles  of  finger-print  classification  or  knew  how  to 
hold  a  pair  of  calipers,  the  boast  was  made  that  the  force 
had  two  identification  systems !  ^ 

America  has  fallen  behind,  too,  in  its  failure  to  develop 
an  adequate  national  system  of  criminal  identification. 
Some  method  is  necessary,  either  of  centralization  or  of 
distribution,  by  which  the  identification  records  of  one 
city  can  be  available  for  all.  For  under  modern  condi- 
tions of  life  the  traveling  criminal  has  come  to  constitute 
the  chief  factor  in  the  police  problem.  The  same  man 
will  commit  burglaries  in  Detroit,  Chicago  and  Cleve- 
land; the  same  pickpocket  will  operate  in  San  Francisco 
and  Salt  Lake  City.  For  lack  of  certain  finger-prints 
filed  in  St.  Louis,  Kansas  City  may  allow  a  well-known 
counterfeiter  to  go  free.  No  single  department  by  itself 
can  cope  successfully  with  the  traveling  criminal.  The 
problem  calls  for  wide  cooperation  under  national  aus- 
pices. Already  a  beginning  has  been  made  in  a  number 
of  states;  in  California,  for  example,  chiefs  of  police, 
sheriffs  and  marshals  must  file  with  the  Central  State 
Bureau  of  Identification,  copies  of  all  finger-prints  which 
they  take."  Even  more  promising  is  the  fact  that  fifteen 
western  cities,  including  Seattle,  Portland,  Tacoma,  Van- 
couver, San  Francisco  and  Oakland,  are  systematically 

1  For  a  fuller  discussion  of  the  systems  of  identification  see  The 
Passing  of  Bertillon  System  of  Identification  by  the  writer  in  the 
Journal  of  Criminal  Lazv  and  Criminology,  Vol.  VI,  p.  363. 

2  Statutes  of  Cal.,  1917,  Chap.  723.  For  a  descrpition  of  the  Cali- 
fornia State  Bureau  of  Criminal  Identification  see  the  National 
Police  Journal,  October,  1919. 


The  Detective  Force 

exchanging  finger-prints  and  photographs,  and  there  are 
groups  of  cities  all  over  the  country  where  similar  cooper- 
ative arrangements  exist.  The  National  Bureau  of 
Criminal  Identification,  created  in  Washington  by  the 
International  Association  of  Chiefs  of  Police  is  an- 
other step  in  the  right  direction ;  but  it  is  largely  a 
private  enterprise,  inadequately  financed,  and  representing 
only  a  portion  of  the  police  departments  of  the  country.^ 
What  is  needed  is  an  official,  bureau,  amply  supported 
financially  and  located  perhaps  in  the  Attorney  General's 
office,  to  which,  on  standardized  forms,  would  l)e  sent  all 
finger-prints  taken  by  any  city  or  county  authority  in  the 
United  States. 

The  United  States  is  practically  the  last  country  to 
inaugurate  a  system  of  this  kind.  A  national  bureau  of 
identification  is  maintained  for  Great  Britain  at  Scotland 
Yard,  London;  for  France,  at  the  Service  de  I'identite 
judiciaire  under  the  Ministry  of  the  Interior  in  Paris;  for 
Italy,  at  the  r^Iinistry  of  the  Interior  in  Rome ;  for  Bel- 
gium, at  police  headquarters  in  Brussels,  and  for  Canada, 
in  the  office  of  the  chief  of  the  Canadian  police  in  Ottawa. 
In  all  of  these  countries  information  as  regards  the  iden- 
tity of  a  particular  criminal  is  immediately  available,  and 
the  police  departments  are  bound  together  in  a  common 
warfare  against  the  profession  of  crime.  A  similar  cen- 
tralization of  information  is  necessary  in  Washington  or 
at  least  under  national  official  auspices,  if  our  police 
authorities  are  to  keep  abreast  of  their  task. 

'  Another  agency  acting  as  a  clearing  house  is  the  Federal  prison 
at  Leavenworth,  Kansas.  The  scope  of  this  agency  is  similarly 
limited. 


American  Police  Systems 

Other  National  Indexes  Needed. 

A  central  bureau  of  identification,  supported  and  con- 
trolled by  the  government,  should  provide  for  the  identi- 
fication not  only  of  criminals  but  of  property  as  well. 
Property  stolen  as  well  as  property  recovered  should  be 
indexed  and  classified  at  some  national  clearing  house  on 
the  basis  of  a  system  similar  to  the  excellent  index  devices 
now  employed  by  the  police  department  of  almost  every 
large  city.  These  local  systems,  however,  are  useful  only 
in  identifying  property  which  is  recovered  in  the  same 
city  in  which  the  report  of  loss  has  been  made.  A  central 
bureau  would  make  possible  the  identification  of  property 
reported  stolen  in  one  city  and  recovered  in  another. 
Indeed  a  central  bureau  can  do  much  more.  The  estab- 
lishment of  a  national  modus  operandi  system  which 
would  record  and  classify  information  regarding  the  dis- 
tinguishing characteristics  in  the  commission  of  major 
crimes,  would  lead  to  the  identification  of  criminals  who 
cover  a  wide  area  in  the  course  of  their  operations.^ 

In  addition  to  maintaining  and  developing  these  several 
branches  of  identification,  a  central  bureau  of  this  kind 
could  also  serve  as  a  clearing  house  for  information  of 
every  sort  which  would  be  useful  to  the  police  depart- 
ments of  all  cities.  Such  a  combined  identification  and 
information  bureau  could  aid  in  bringing  about  standard- 
ized practices  in  the  keeping  of  crime  records,  as  well  as 
in  methods  of  transmitting  descriptions  of  persons  wanted 

1  Such  a  system  is  now  employed  by  the  California  State  Bureau 
of  Criminal  Identification  and  Investigation.  For  a  detailed  dis- 
cussion of  the  modus  operandi  system  see  European  Police  Sys- 
tems, Chap.  IX. 


The  Detective  Force 

or  of  property  stolen.  A  national  l)ureau  too,  would  be 
in  a  position  to  devise  and  establisli  an  efficient  cipher 
code  for  use  in  transmitting  messages  between  police 
departments.  It  is  to  purposes  of  this  kind  that  Scotland 
Yard  is  lending  its  good  offices,  and  while  the  size  of 
America,  as  compared  with  Great  Britain,  complicates 
our  task,  with  patience  and  ingenuity  a  solution  can  be 
found. 


353 


CHAPTER  X 

THE    PREVENTION    OF    CRIME 

Place  of  crime  prevention  in  work  of  department. —  Attack  on  the 
breeding  places  of  crime. —  Special  conditions  making  for  crime. — 
Educating  the  public. —  The  police  and  ex-convicts. —  Juvenile  de- 
linquency.—  Poverty. —  Other  crime  prevention  methods. —  The  de- 
velopment of  the  crime  prevention  bureau. 

The  activities  of  the  uniformed  and  detective  forces 
represent  our  conventional  methods  of  fighting  crime. 
The  policeman  patrolling  the  city  block,  like  his  prototype, 
the  rattle-watchman  of  250  years  ago,  is  there  to  prevent 
disorder,  and  to  catch,  if  he  can,  any  person  who  breaks 
the  law.  Conceivably,  therefore,  if  he  is  alert  and  con- 
scientious, no  crimes  will  be  committed  in  his  vicinity. 
Highway  robbers  will  not  operate,  burglars  will  not  break 
in  from  the  street,  and  pickpockets  will  be  restrained  from 
activity.  If  it  were  possible  to  maintain  enough  police- 
men continuously  to  cover  all  our  city  blocks,  we  could 
be  guaranteed  against  the  commission  of  crime  in  our 
streets. 

Similarly  the  detective  force,  while  engaged  primarily 
in  ferreting  out  the  criminal  who  has  already  committed 
a  crime,  exercises  a  restraining  influence  upon  those  who 
would  break  the  law.  The  pickpocket  is  far  less  apt  to 
succumb  to  temptation  if  he  feels  that  his  actions  may  be 
watched  by  men  in  plain  clothes  who  know  the  ways  of 
the  trade. 

354 


The  Prevention  of  Crime 

All  police  work  has  as  its  goal  the  prevention  of  crime. 
It  is  a  matter  for  surprise,  therefore,  to  leam  that  even 
were  we  to  secure  ioo%  efficiency  in  our  patrol  and  de- 
tective work,  most  crimes  would  still  go  unhindered. 
Arthur  Woods,  formerly  police  commissioner  in  New 
York,  put  the  case  as  follows  :  "  Given  perfect  patrolling 
work,  perfect  (if  there  is  such  a  thing)  detective  work, 
along  the  conventional  lines,  what  proportion  of  crimes 
would  still  be  committed?  I  discussed  this  at  an  Inspec- 
tors' meeting  some  time  ago.  One  Inspector  said  it  was 
'  fifty-fifty,'  meaning  that  one-half  the  crimes  that  were 
then  being  committed  in  his  district  could  not  be  pre- 
vented, even  if  the  regular  patrol  and  detective  work 
were  as  good  as  they  could  be.  This  Inspector  had  a  dis- 
trict thickly  populated  with  foreigners.  An  old  experi- 
enced Inspector,  whose  district  is  largely  residential,  on 
the  west  side  of  Manhattan,  said  he  believed  only  one 
per  cent  of  the  crime  in  his  district  could  be  prevented  by 
perfect  police  work.  The  other  estimates  varied  between 
these  two.  If  these  men  were  right  in  their  estimates  — 
and  they  were  the  highest  officers  on  the  New  York  Force 
—  if  from  fifty  to  ninety-nine  per  cent  of  crime  would 
be  committed  in  spite  of  perfect  police  work  along  the 
conventional  lines  —  you  can  see  why  it  is  that  we  are 
cudgelling  our  brains  to  try  to  devise  new  methods,  even 
if  unconventional,  with  which  to  fight  the  outlaw.''  ^ 

One  cannot  re\iew  the  activities  of  the  police  in  many 
cities  without  realizing  that  this  point  of  view  is  the  ex- 
ception rather  than  the  rule.  Too  many  police  adminis- 
trators are  content  to  develop  the  conventional  methods  of 

1  Crime  Prevention,  Princeton  University  Press,  1918. 

355 


American  Police  Systems 

policing  and  are  inclined  to  disclaim  responsibility  for  any 
crimes  committed  in  a  way  that  these  methods  cannot  be 
expected  to  meet.  If  a  burglar  enters  from  the  rear  while 
the  policeman  is  patrolling  the  front,  if  a  theft  is  an  "  in- 
side job,"  committed  by  a  servant,  if  goods  are  stolen 
from  a  truck  left  carelessly  in  a  yard,  it  is  assumed  that 
from  the  standpoint  of  prevention  these  are  cases  with 
which  the  police  have  nothing  to  do.  Indeed  so  vision- 
less  are  some  police  executives  that  the  more  this  type  of 
case  increases  the  more  do  they  stress  the  enlargement 
of  the  very  conventional  methods  which  have  proved  use- 
less in  thwarting  it.  Every  crime-wave,  therefore,  is  apt 
to  be  met  with  a  request  for  more  policemen,  whereas  a 
smaller  number  of  men,  working  with  resourcefulness  and 
imagination  might  perhaps  better  handle  the  new  condi- 
tion. 

The  average  police  department  is  still  too  much  merely 
an  agency  of  law  enforcefuent,  divorced  from  responsi- 
bility for  the  causes  of  crime.  Its  energies  are  consumed 
in  defensive  measures,  in  efforts  to  correct  the  manifesta- 
tions of  crime  rather  than  attack  its  roots.  So  long  as 
this  is  the  case,  the  policeman  will  continue  to  represent, 
as  he  does  in  so  many  places  at  present,  the  city's  bewil- 
dered and  futile  attempt  to  beat  back  the  spasmodic  out- 
croppings  of  disorder  which  are  continually  in  process  of 
manufacture  in  the  inner  currents  of  city  life.  There  is 
as  much  room  for  crime  prevention  in  our  communities 
as  for  fire  prevention  or  the  prevention  of  disease,  and  in 
this  endeavor  to  limit  the  opportunities  of  crime  and  keep 
it  from  claiming  its  victims  the  police  department  must 
take  the  leading  part. 

356 


The  Prevention  of  Crime 

The  Breeding  Places  of  Crhne. 

Just  as  yellow  fever  was  successfully  attacked  by  drain- 
ing the  swamps  and  morasses  where  it  bred,  so  the  attack 
on  crime  is,  in  part,  at  least,  a  matter  of  eliminating  its 
breeding  places.  Crime  develops  from  contact  and  had 
environment.  Ever}'  city  has  its  vicious  spots  —  its 
points  of  contagion  —  distributing  their  contamination 
over  smaller  or  larger  areas.  Often  these  spots  are  un- 
known to  the  police ;  sometimes  when  known  they  are  not 
treated.  The  old  "  red-light  "  districts  which  disgraced 
our  cities  for  so  many  years,  but  which  have  now  grad- 
ually given  way  before  an  aroused  public  opinion,  were 
flagrant  examples  of  breeding  places  of  crime  unmolested 
by  the  police.  Quite  apart  from  the  conditions  of  im- 
morality which  they  fostered,  they  let  loose  upon  the 
community  an  army  of  pick-pockets,  shop-lifters,  and 
petty  robbers,  of  both  sexes,  who  found  retreat  and  stimu- 
lation in  the  protected  district.  "  I  never  knew  where 
that  brood  of  small- fry  crooks  was  coming  from,"  the 
chief  in  a  southern  city  told  me,  in  explaining  the  decrease 
of  crime  complaints  which  followed  the  closing  of  the  dis- 
trict in  his  town. 

Similarly,  gambling  and  pool-selling  places,  and  the 
various  rendezvous  where  narcotics  are  illegally  obtained, 
are  breeding  grounds  of  crime  to  which  the  conscientious 
police  executive  will  give  careful  attention.  Particularly 
is  this  true  of  the  sale  of  habit-forming  drugs.  There  is 
scarcely  a  city  in  the  country  where  this  insidious  practice 
has  not  gained  a  foothold,  and  the  methods  employed  to 
evade  the  law  are  numerous.     It  has  recently  been  esti- 

357 


American  Police  Systems 

mated  that  there  are  300,000  persons  addicted  to  the  use 
of  narcotic  drugs  in  the  city  of  New  York  alone. ^  The 
Inspector  of  Pharmacy  of  the  pohce  department  of  Wash- 
ington, D.  C,  says :  "  It  is  alarming  to  note  the  terrible 
evils  of  the  drug  habit  and  almost  impossible  to  estimate 
its  enormous  proportions,  as  it  is  fostered  in  secrecy  and 
is  responsible  for  a  large  portion  of  the  crimes  against 
the  community."  -  Chief  of  Police  Long  of  Newark  in 
speaking  of  the  relation  between  the  use  of  drugs  and  the 
commission  of  crime  said:  "  Men  and  women  who  ordi- 
narily commit  no  crime,  when  under  the  influence  of  their 
favorite  *  dope  '  will  hesitate  at  none.  When  the  craving 
is  long  unsatisfied  it  becomes  a  strong  and  merciless 
driver,  forcing  its  victims  to  take  chances  of  securing  the 
necessary  means  by  methods  from  which  they  would 
shrink  when  in  normal  condition."  ^ 

The  same  remark  is  true  of  the  existence  of  gambling 
rendezvous,  which  in  most  cases  are  nothing  but  clearing 
houses  for  criminals.  Commissioner  Enright  of  New 
York  speaks  of  them  as  follows :  "  Such  places  are  in- 
variably the  headquarters  of  the  most  dangerous  crimi- 
nals, as  the  vast  majority  of  society's  enemies  appear  to 
have  a  passion  for  games  of  hazard,  a  reflection  of  their 
precarious  existences,  perhaps.  Besides,  many  of  the 
keepers  of  such  resorts  are  ex-convicts  and  if  not,  then 

1  From  a  statement  in  the  Journal  of  the  American  Institute  of 
Criminal  Laiv  and  Criminology,  Nov.,  1919,  by  Albert  J.  Weber, 
Foreman  of  Grand  Jurors,  Southern  District  of  New  York.  This 
estimate  is  concurred  in  by  other  writers. 

2  Annual  Report  of  the  Metropolitan  Police  of  the  District  of 
Columbia,  1918. 

2  From  an  address  before  the  annual  convention  of  the  Interiaa- 
tional  Association  of  Chiefs  of  Police,  1915. 


The  Prevention  of  Crime 

they  are  apt  to  be  surrounded  by  such  men  and  women 
and  are  not  at  all  averse  to  financing  the  criminal  projects 
of  their  hangers-on  and  the  vicious  parasites  who  flock  to 
every  gambling  house  to  whicli  access  can  be  had.  .  .  . 
The  suppression  of  these  establishments,  no  matter  what 
their  disguise,  is  preventive  police  work  of  the  highest 
quality."  ^ 

The  modern  police  head  will  not  only  attack  the  swamps 
and  morasses  whose  existence  and  location  are  more  or 
less  patent,  but  he  will  be  zealous  to  seek  out  and  discover 
secret  sources  of  infection  which  lie  hidden  in  the  dark 
places  of  city  life.  For  example,  here  is  a  locality  in  a 
city  credited  with  a  larger  number  of  crime  complaints 
than  circumstances  would  seem  to  justify.  It  may  be  a 
matter  of  poor  policing  along  conventional  lines;  it  may 
be  the  work  of  local  or  of  travelling  criminals.  How- 
ever, the  question  on  which  the  conscientious  executive 
will  want  to  be  assured  is  whether  in  this  particular  local- 
ity specific  conditions  exist  which  encourage  the  commis- 
sion of  crime.  These  conditions  may  take  the  shape  of 
disorderly  gangs,  unregulated  dance-halls  and  other  places 
of  amusement,  policy-shops,  vicious  "  back-rooms,"  or 
rendezvous  for  idlers  and  loafers.  They  may  be  trace- 
able to  unnecessary  temptations  to  theft  or  to  any  one  of 
a  dozen  other  factors.  As  important  as  the  arrest  of  the 
offenders,  in  the  mind  of  the  zealous  police  chief,  will  be 
the  discovery  and  the  elimination,  if  possible,  of  the  con- 
ditions which  hatched  the  present  crimes,  and  which,  if 
not  treated,  will  send  out  a  swarm  of  new  offenders. 
It  was  this  conception  that  prompted  Commissioner 
1  Annual  Report,  New  York  Police  Department,  1918,  p.  29. 

359 


American  Police  Systems 

Woods  in  New  York  to  inaugurate  his  system  of  "  crime 
prevention  patrolmen."  Carefully  chosen  officers  were 
assigned  to  the  more  busy  precincts  of  the  city  to  ferret 
out  conditions  which  seemed  to  be  having  a  tendency  to 
lead  people  astray,  particularly  boys  and  girls.  Many 
temptations  to  petty  stealing  were  discovered  which  could 
be  eliminated,  and  other  situations  were  traced  through 
the  influence  of  which  thoughtless,  growing  boys  were 
turned  into  law-breakers.  Commissioner  Woods'  experi- 
ment did  not  have  time  to  prove  itself  before  he  left  office, 
but  it  illustrates  the  new  technique  in  police  work  for 
diminishing  the  supply  of  crime.^ 

Special  Conditions  Making  for  Crime. 

The  prevalence  of  crime  is  often  traceable  to  certain 
special  conditions  which  are  controllable  by  the  police. 
The  existence  of  disorderly  gangs,  for  example,  has  fre- 
quently led,  particularly  in  our  larger  cities,  to  open  de- 
fiance of  the  law  and  a  reign  of  terror  among  peaceful 
citizens.  In  the  districts  infested  by  these  gangs  the  mer- 
chant and  the  shopkeeper  are  especially  made  the  prey. 
The  New  York  police  in  1914  reported  that  it  was  a  com- 
mon experience  for  a  small  storekeeper  to  have  a  member 
of  one  of  these  gangs  walk  into  his  place  of  business, 
produce  a  number  of  tickets  for  a  dance,  and  demand  that 
they  be  purchased  for  fifty  dollars.  The  entertainment 
perhaps  was  never  to  be  given,  but  the  purchase  was 
quickly  made  and  no  questions  asked.  Ordinary  pru- 
dence dictated  prompt  compliance.     In  addition  to  black- 

1  See  Annual  Report  of  New  York  Police  Department,  1917,  p.  78, 
issued  just  before  Mr.  Woods'  retirement  from  office. 

360 


The  Prevention  of  Crime 

mailing  shopkeepers,  gangsters  soon  became  bold  in  rob- 
bing and  stealing,  holding  up  citizens  on  the  street  and 
invading  restaurants  and  cafes  with  drawn  pistols. 
Keepers  of  disorderly  houses  have  frequently  paid  them 
tribute,  each  gang  having  its  domain  and  granting  protec- 
tion from  other  gangs  within  that  sphere  of  influence. 
Gunmen  of  this  type  have  not  hesitated  to  assault  or  mur- 
der citizens  for  hire.  Commissioner  Woods  in  reporting 
upon  the  situation  existing  when  he  took  office  in  New 
York  in  1914,  made  the  following  statement: 

"  Strikers  would  approach  gang  leaders  and  hire 
them  to  assault  men  who  continued  to  work  in  spite  of 
warnings  from  the  strikers  to  desist.  Employers  hired 
men  of  like  character,  attached  to  so-called  '  detective 
agencies,'  who  used  '  strong  arm  '  methods  against  the 
strikers.  In  various  strikes  occurring  in  this  city  dur- 
ing the  period  mentioned,  almost  every  conceivable 
crime  was  committed  by  *  guerillas  '  hired  by  one  side 
or  the  other,  including  robbery,  extortion,  assault, 
arson,  riot,  and  murder."  ^ 

It  was  only  by  a  systematic  and  concentrated  attack 
upon  these  gangs  that  certain  congested  sections  of  Xew 
York  City  were  freed  from  the  terrorizing  experiences 
which  had  occurred  spasmodically  for  years.  Many  of 
the  bands  were  composed  of  highly  trained  and  highly 
paid  specialists.  Some  used  weapons  such  as  black-jacks, 
gas-pipes,  or  bottles  containing  fluids,  but  the  majority 
carried  pistols.  Most  of  them  took  their  names  from 
their  leaders,  and  the  gangs  were  known  by  such  titles  as 

1  Annual  Report  of  New  York  Police  Department,  1917,  p.  38. 

361 


American  Police  Systems 

"  Dopey  Benny,"  "  Joe  the  Greaser,"  "  Hudson  Dusters," 
"Sirocco,"  "Ownie  Madden,"  "  Skush  Thomas," 
"  Slaughter  House,"  "  Pearl  Button,"  "  Little  Doggie," 
"  Pansy,"  "  Frog  Hollows,"  and  "  Jew  Murphy." 

The  police  concentrated  their  attention  on  these  gangs 
one  by  one,  and  special  squads  were  formed  to  familiarize 
themselves  with  individual  thugs  and  guerillas,  as  well  as 
with  their  habits  and  places  of  rendezvous.  The  so- 
called  "  ball  rooms "  where  the  criminals  congregated 
were  closed,  the  law  forbidding  the  possession  of  pistols 
without  permits  was  strictly  enforced,  and  gradually  by 
careful  study  and  surveillance,  the  ring  was  tightened  and 
the  bands  were  broken  up.^  Every  city  of  any  size  has 
its  heroes  of  the  underworld  about  whom  are  gathered 
weak-willed  imitators  and  hangers-on,  who  will  follow 
their  leaders  in  vice  and  crime  to  almost  any  extreme. 
But  the  customary  method  of  proceeding  against  these 
lawless  gangs  has  been  to  await  the  commission  of  some 
major  crime  that  may  offer  an  opportunity  to  give  these 
leaders  or  their  associates  prison  sentences. 

In  this  connection  the  law  against  the  carrying  of 
weapons  is  worthy  of  special  note.  The  so-called  Sulli- 
van Law  in  New  York  has  effectively  served  to  reduce 
the  number  of  homicides.  Unfortunately,  however,  this 
law  is  not  applicable  to  neighboring  states,  with  the  result 
that  weapons  can  readily  be  purchased  within  easy  dis- 
tance of  New  York  City.     In  spite  of  this  disadvantage, 

1  In  this  campaign,  a  card  catalogue  was  compiled  at  police  head- 
quarters of  the  names  and  aliases  of  1,352  known  gangsters.  Pre- 
vious to  this  time  many  a  gunman  had  escaped  the  deterrent  effect 
of  a  severe  sentence  by  reason  of  the  fact  that  he  had  never  been 
finger-printed,  and  his  previous  record  appeared  under  some  other 
name.     (Annual  Report  1917,  p.  ^g.) 

362 


The  Prevention  of  Crime 

squads  of  detectives  in  New  York  are  constantly  em- 
ployed in  rounding  up  vicious  characters  and  relieving 
them  of  revolvers  and  other  dangerous  weapons  which 
they  have  no  right  to  possess,  and  the  result  has  undoubt- 
edly been  of  great  value  in  preventing  the  commission  of 
contemplated  crime.  During  191S,  the  memljers  of  the 
detective  force  of  New  York  took  336  revolvers  from 
])ersons  not  authorized  to  carry  them.^  IMajor  Pullman, 
late  head  of  the  force  of  Washington,  D.  C,  in  urging  a 
somewhat  similar  law  for  the  District  of  Columbia,  ex- 
pressed himself  as  follows  :  "  At  the  present  time  a  per- 
son may  purchase  a  firearm  by  going  into  any  store  or 
second-hand  shop  and  putting  down  the  money  for  the 
weapon,  then  going  out  and  perhaps  killing  a  person  in 
the  next  half  hour.  Many  crimes  result  from  persons 
buying  revolvers  in  this  manner  and  shooting  while  in  a 
fit  of  passion.''  - 

Educating  the  Public. 

One  of  the  principal  measures  which  an  enterprising 
police  force  can  adopt  in  reducing  the  volume  of  crime  is 
a  systematic  education  of  the  public  in  regard  to  criminal 
methods  and  practices.  In  a  few  cities,  notably  New 
York,  Detroit  and  Washington,  D.  C,  a  very  extensive 
propaganda  has  been  carried  on  under  the  direction  of  the 
police  to  educate  the  citizens  for  self-protection.  Mov- 
ing picture  films,  lectures  and  literature  have  l)een  used 
to  illustrate  the  fatal  consequences  of  leaving  doors  un- 
locked, handbags  easy  to  open,  or  notices  on  the  door-bell 

1  Annual  Report  for  1918,  p.  41. 

2  Report,  Metropolitan  Police,  District  of  Cohinibia,  for  1918,  p.  13. 


American  Police  Systems 

that  nobody  was  home.  Campaigns  have  been  conducted 
against  particular  forms  of  carelessness  which  result  in 
thefts  from  vans,  drays  and  storage  lofts.  Because  a 
substantial  percentage  of  crimes  in  our  large  cities  now- 
adays is  the  work  of  dishonest  employees,  special  empha- 
sis has  been  laid  upon  the  advisability  of  requiring  care- 
ful references.  The  police  cannot  directly  prevent  an 
"  inside  job,"  but  they  can  indirectly  discourage  it  by 
emphasizing  in  vivid  and  appealing  form  the  necessity  of 
scrupulous  care  in  hiring  servants.  Similarly,  the  police 
have  advised  with  business  houses  as  to  the  best  methods 
of  protecting  them,  and  have  sent  experts  to  inspect  and 
suggest;  they  have  emphasized  the  urgency  of  safety  de- 
vices on  automobiles  to  prevent  their  being  stolen,  and 
have  consulted  with  insurance  people  as  to  more  effective 
measures  for  avoiding  the  things  they  were  insuring 
against. 

A  circular  issued  by  the  police  of  Washington,  D.  C, 
and  widely  distributed  to  the  citizens,  contains  such  perti- 
nent advice  as  follows : 

Do  not  admit  to  your  home  telephone  inspectors,  water 
inspectors,  gas  inspectors,  health  office  inspectors,  or  any 
other  kind,  unless  they  give  proper  credentials  and  show 
authority. 

When  you  leave  your  home,  do  not  advertise  the  fact  by 
pulling  down  the  shades  or  leaving  a  note  in  the  letterbox 
saying  you  will  be  back  at  such  and  such  an  hour.  Sneak 
thieves  profit  by  such  advice,  and  it  is  an  invitation  for  them 
to  enter. 

Do  not  make  your  home  a  safe  deposit  vault  for  silver- 
ware and  jewelry  while  you  are  away. 

364 


The  Prevention  of  Crime 

Women,  do  not  when  shopping  lay  your  handbag  on  coun- 
ters while  looking  at  goods.  This  is  an  opportunity  thieves 
are  always  waiting  for. 

Neither  strangers  nor  any  one  else,  for  that  matter,  should 
expose  their  money  in  public  unnecessarily ;  nor  should  men 
carry  their  wallets  in  the  hip  pocket.  Pickpockets  would 
have  to  go  out  of  business  if  men  became  careful  in  handling 
their  money.  Four-fifths  of  all  pickpocket  jobs  are  made 
easy  because  so  many  carry  their  money  in  their  hip  pockets 
and  have  it  lifted  while  getting  on  a  car  or  while  in  a  crowd. 
Keep  your  coat  buttoned  up  and  an  eye  on  your  ])ockets. 

A  large  percentage  of  crime  commiited  in  Washington, 
and  all  other  cities  for  that  matter,  may  be  prevented  if  the 
citizens  are  careful  and  do  not  make  it  easy  for  the  crim- 
inal to  do  his  work. 

Always  keep  your  eyes  open  and  your  wits  about  you. 
Regard  the  policeman  as  your  best  friend.  He  is  paid  to 
serve  you  by  keeping  the  streets  safe  and  orderly.  He  is 
entitled  to  your  help. 

Such  advice  as  this,  if  vividly  and  dramatically  set 
forth,  and  constantly  brought  home  to  the  citizens  in  ways 
which  modern  advertising  methods  suggest,  can  help  ma- 
terially in  reducing  crime  complaints.  Without  the  co- 
operation of  the  public,  the  police  themselves  cannot  suc- 
cessfully attack  the  problem  of  crime.  Education  and 
propaganda  are  indispensable  aids  in  every  modern  police 
department. 

Men  Out  of  Prison. 

The  bulk  of  crime,  certainly  of  crime  against  property, 
is  committed  by  those  who  have  previously  Ix^en  in  the 
hands  of  the  police.     The  chief  problem  of  any  police  or- 

365 


American  Police  Systems 

ganization  is  furnished  by  the  professional  or  habitual 
criminal,  by  the  man  upon  whom  the  possibiHty  of  an- 
other prison  sentence  exercises  no  restraint.  Too  often 
the  attitude  of  society  and  the  police  has  made  any  other 
career  than  crime  impossible  for  an  ex-convict.  The 
handicap  of  his  previous  record,  his  inability  to  secure 
employment,  and  the  constant  "  hounding  "  by  the  police, 
make  it  difficult  for  him  to  rehabilitate  himself  and  easy 
to  continue  in  a  life  of  crime.  Some  time  after  Commis- 
sioner Woods  took  office  in  New  York,  he  spoke  to  the 
inmates  of  Sing  Sing  prison,  and  promised  them  that  as 
long  as  he  was  head  of  the  New  York  police  force  there 
was  going  to  be  no  "  hounding  "  of  convicts.  He  told 
them  that  if  they  came  to  New  York  and  wanted  to  earn 
an  honest  living  and  lead  an  honest  life,  the  police  would 
not  merely  give  them  a  chance,  but  would  try  to  assist 
them  to  find  positions.  In  response  to  this  invitation,  176 
ex-convicts  got  in  touch  with  police  headquarters  in  New 
York  when  their  terms  at  Sing  Sing  had  expired.  They 
had  been  sentenced  for  such  crimes  as  homicide,  burglary, 
grand  larceny,  robbery,  forgery,  etc.,  and  many  had  served 
two  and  three  terms.  For  these  176  men,  203  positions 
were  obtained.^  A  careful  record  was  kept  of  every  case 
and  at  the  close  of  Mr.  Woods'  term,  of  the  176  men,  120 
were  working,  nine  had  been  re-sentenced  to  prison, 
twenty  were  lost  track  of,  and  2"]  cases  were  pending.^ 

1  Only  those  positions  which  were  actually  worked  at  for  a  week 
or  more  are  included  in  the  calculation. 

-  For  a  full  discussion  of  these  cases,  see  Leroy  Peterson,  loc.  cit., 
p.  18  ff.  In  placing  these  men  in  positions,  every  effort  was  made 
to  find  work  that  was  really  suitable  to  them  and  from  which  they 
could  earn  enough  money  to  support  themselves  and  their  families. 
Employers  were  always  told  the  full  facts,  and  each  case  was  han- 

366 


The  Prevention  of  Crime 

There  was  nothing  emotional  in  the  approach  of  the 
New  York  pohce  to  this  problem.  Primarily,  they  were 
interested  in  preventing  crime,  and  the  method  which  they 
pursued  was  adapted  directly  to  this  end. 

Juvenile  Delinquency. 

In  November,  1916,  of  the  seven  people  in  the  death 
house  in  Sing  Sing,  awaiting  execution,  five  were  I)oys 
under  21  years  of  age.*  The  following  arrests  were  made 
in  Washington,  D.  C,  in  1919,  of  children  under  seven- 
teen years  of  age.  - 

Crime  charged  Number  of  arrests 

Murder 4 

Robbery 36 

Assault  with  dangerous  weapon 7 

Forgery 12 

Grand  larceny   ji 

House  breaking 189 

Statistics  such  as  these  furnish  indisputable  evidence 
that  criminals  are  recruited  from  the  ranks  of  childhood. 
The  rollicking,  mischievous  boy  of  today,  uncontrolled 
and  out  of  hand,  is  the  hardened  offender  of  tomorrow. 
In  their  efforts  to  prevent  crime,  therefore,  the  police 
have  no  more  fruitful  field  of  work  than  is  presented  by 
the  boys  and  girls  of  our  cities. 

died  on  its  own  merits.  If  a  man  had  been  sentenced  for  grand 
larceny,  he  was  not  given  a  position  where  he  would  be  continually 
tempted.  If  he  seemed  to  be  a  weak  individual  without  stamina 
or  backbone,  he  was  placed  in  a  job  where  he  could  do  real  work 
without  being  subject  to  easy  chances  for  continued  thieving. 

1  From  an  unpublished  report  by  Leroy  Peterson  on  the  social 
activities  of  the  Xew  York  Police  Department  from  1914  to  1917. 

-  Annual  Report  of  the  Metropolitan  Police  of  the  District  of 
Columbia  for  1919. 


American  Police  Systems 

In  this  connection  it  must  be  admitted  at  the  outset  that 
the  path  of  the  poHce  is  beset  with  difficulty.  The  poHce- 
man  seems  to  be  the  natural  and  inveterate  enemy  of  the 
growing  boy.  He  is  the  represser  of  everything  that  a 
red-blooded  boy  instinctively  wants  to  do,  such  as  build 
bonfires,  play  ball  in  the  streets,  climb  trees  in  the  park, 
and  throw  snowballs  at  teams  and  pedestrians.  It  must 
be  admitted,  too,  that  the  police  are  often  stupid  in  hand- 
ling the  boy  problem.  Too  often  the  policeman  is  a  sort 
of  glorified  town  bully,  and  boys  are  arrested  as  crimi- 
nals and  haled  to  court  for  mischief  that  should  have 
been  overlooked  or  at  the  most  reprimanded.  It  is  dis- 
couraging to  examine  in  the  police  stations  of  some  cities 
the  records  of  juvenile  arrests.  Boys  are  locked  up  for 
stealing  a  bottle  of  milk,  for  calling  a  policeman  "  cop- 
per," for  loafing  on  street  corners,  for  calling  the  ice- 
man "  Dago,"  for  boating  in  the  park  after  hours,  or  for 
pulling  an  old  man's  beard.  True,  the  boys  are  generally 
discharged  by  the  court,  but  the  mischief  has  been  done; 
the  boy  has  been  branded  as  a  criminal  and  the  memory 
of  the  brief  prison  experience  remains. 

The  modern  police  executive  realizes  that  growing  boys 
must  be  continuously  active  —  that  if  because  of  the 
cramped  conditions  of  city  life,  bonfires  and  snowballing 
have  to  be  forbidden,  something  else  must  be  substituted 
in  their  places.  He  realizes,  too,  that  in  this  search  for 
positive  opportunities  for  recreation  and  the  employment 
of  leisure  time  the  police  must  take  a  leading  part. 

It  was  with  this  idea  in  mind,  therefore,  that  Commis-. 
sioner  Woods  in  New  York  established  his  system  of 

368 


The  Prevention  of  Crime 

Junior  Police.  Before  he  left  office  there  were  6,000 
members  between  the  ages  of  eleven  and  sixteen,  organ- 
ized in  ^2  different  precincts  of  the  city  under  the  regular 
police  captains.  The  boys  were  uniformed  and  drilled; 
they  were  given  lessons  in  first-aid,  safety-first,  the  rules 
of  the  road,  and  law  and  order;  they  had  their  games  and 
athletic  meets  —  all  under  the  direct  control  and  manage- 
ment of  the  police.  '"'  We  feel  that  the  results  have  been 
good,"  said  Air.  Woods  in  1917.  "The  boy  comes  to 
feel  that  the  policeman  whom  he  has  considered  his  nat- 
ural enemy  is  really  a  man  whom  he  can  look  to  for  help 
in  doing  the  things  that  he  most  likes  to  do.  We  notice 
a  marked  falling  off  in  juvenile  delinquencies  in  precincts 
where  there  are  Junior  Police  Forces."  ^ 

Similarly  Commissioner  Woods  threw  the  influence  of 
his  department  into  the  development  of  city  playgrounds. 
In  the  more  congested  districts  whole  blocks  were  laid  out 
as  "  play  streets,"  and  traffic  was  excluded  between  three 
o'clock  and  si.x  o'clock  every  afternoon.  Through  the 
help  of  private  agencies  "  backyard  "  playgrounds  were 
opened  up  in  those  districts  where  the  figures  of  juvenile 
delinquency  were  especially  high.  Sixteen  such  play 
spaces  in  all  were  developed  with  results  that  proved  con- 
clusively the  relationship  between  delinquency  and  the 
lack  of  a  rational  opportunity  to  play. 

Another  method  which  progressive  departments  have 
adopted  in  establishing  a  better  relationship  between  the 
policeman  and  the  children  has  been  to  assign  policemen 
in  uniform  to  talk  to  the  children  in  the  public  schools. 

^Annual  Report  of  New  York  Police  Department,  1917,  p.  81. 


American  Police  Systems 

In  Washington,  D.  C,  a  series  of  addresses  by  police  offi- 
cers on  "  Why  is  a  PoHceman  "  has  been  especially  suc- 
cessful. 

The  plan  of  Christmas  parties  in  the  precinct  station 
houses  for  the  children  of  the  neighborhood  was  adopted 
in  New  York  in  191 5  and  was  followed  in  other  cities, 
notably  in  Detroit.  Lists  of  children  were  made  up  by 
precinct  commanding  officers  through  information  fur- 
nished them  by  patrolmen  on  post.  As  far  as  possible 
these  lists  were  composed  of  children  who  would  not 
otherwise  be  provided  for  on  Christmas  day.  Each  child 
received  one  or  more  useful  articles  of  clothing,  a  toy,  a 
box  of  candy  and  some  fruit.  The  station  houses  were 
decorated  and  each  had  a  large  Christmas  tree.  Instead 
of  prisoners,  the  cells  contained  holly  and  toys  and  fruit. 
On  Christmas  day  the  stations  were  filled  with  happy 
mothers  and  laughing  children  instead  of  the  usual  pro- 
cession of  deserted  mothers  and  crying  children.  The 
police  captain  in  each  precinct  acted  as  Santa  Claus  and 
the  program  of  entertainment  frequently  was  run  in  shifts 
to  take  care  of  all  the  children  in  the  neighborhood. 
Over  40,000  children  were  entertained  in  this  fashion  in 
New  York  during  the  Christmas  of  1916.  It  is  scarcely 
too  much  to  say  that  the  event  marked  almost  a  revolution 
in  the  relation  of  the  policeman  to  the  neighborhood.  As 
one  beaming,  perspiring  patrolman  said  to  Commissioner 
Woods :  "  Well,  Commissioner,  I  believe  those  kids  will 
believe  now,  when  we  tell  'em  to  cut  out  hitching  on 
wagons,  that  it's  a  friend  that's  talking!"^ 

One  further  method  of  socializing  the  relations  of  the 

1  Crime  Prevention,  p.  120. 


The  Prevention  of  Crime 

police  department  with  the  children  was  developed  by 
Commissioner  Woods  in  the  institution  of  so-called  "  wel- 
fare-officers." In  January,  1917,  ten  precincts  were  se- 
lected for  this  experiment,  a  carefully  chosen  patrolman 
being  assigned  in  each  precinct  with  the  single  duty  of 
looking  after  the  boys  and  girls  wdio  seemed  to  be  going 
wrong.  "  Think  of  the  gain  to  the  city.'*  said  Commis- 
sioner Woods,  "  if  we  can  take  a  boy  who  would  other- 
wise become  a  burglar,  who  has  started  to  master  that 
profession,  and  turn  him  into  a  self-respecting,  self-sup- 
porting citizen.  That  is  what  these  welfare  officers  are 
working  for."  ^  Gradually  the  system  was  extended  until 
forty-seven  precincts  were  thus  covered.  By  the  end  of 
191 7,  9,300  cases  had  been  investigated  and  some  action 
had  been  taken  in  each  instance.  These  cases  often  in- 
volved truancy  and  were  frequently  the  result  of  destitute 
home  conditions  which  could  be  corrected  by  enlisting  the 
aid  of  some  private  welfare  association.  Special  forms 
of  delinquency  among  the  boys  also  included  petty  larceny, 
crap  playing,  stone  throwing  and  carrying  cans  of  beer. 
The  girls  w-ere  mostly  charged  with  loitering  around 
parks  and  armories.  In  only  two  per  cent  of  all  these 
cases  was  it  found  necessary  to  make  arrests.  The  solu- 
tion of  the  difficulty  was  obtained  sometimes  by  the  mere 
friendship  of  a  big  brother  policeman,  sometimes  by  con- 
necting the  child  wdth  the  home  through  the  authoritative 
but  kindly  influence  of  a  man  in  uniform.^ 

In  Chicago  during  the  year  19 18  there  were  19,019  in- 
vestigations of  cases  of  delinquency  and  complaint?  in- 

'  Ibid.,  p.  112. 

-  For  discussion,  see  Report  of  New  York  Police,   1914-1917.  pp. 

37^ 


American  Police  Systems 

volving  children  made  by  39  patrolmen  assigned  to  juve- 
nile work  at  various  precinct  station  houses.^  Of  these 
cases,  16,320,  or  85.8%,  were  adjusted  out  of  court  and 
delinquency  petitions  were  filed  in  the  remainder.  In  the 
nine  month  period  from  April  to  December,  1918,  a  single 
officer  working  in  the  sixth  and  seventh  precincts  investi- 
gated 1,141  cases,  only  82  of  these  cases  going  to  court. 
A  juvenile  delinquency  division  was  established  in  De- 
troit in  1S82.  Although  its  personnel  is  made  up  of  regu- 
lar policemen,  the  division  operates  as  an  independent 
bureau  and  even  has  headquarters  in  a  building  separate 
from  any  other  police  division.  A  captain  is  in  command 
of  the  division  and  there  are  ten  juvenile  officers  none  of 
whom  are  uniformed.  Other  divisions  of  the  police  de- 
partment refer  matters  affecting  children  to  the  juvenile 
division  which  assumes  full  responsibility  for  investiga- 
tion and  action.  In  Los  Angeles  a  juvenile  bureau  con- 
stitutes a  separate  division  of  the  department.  It  is  com- 
manded by  a  chief  juvenile  officer  and  includes  both  pa- 
trolmen and  policewomen.  The  chief  juvenile  officer 
described  the  work  of  the  bureau  as  follows: 

"  In  general  this  Bureau  has  to  deal  with  minor  chil- 
dren who  are  placed  under  arrest  by  any  officer  of  the 
department,  or  against  whom  reports  are  received  from 
parents  or  other  citizens.  This  Bureau  also  deals  with 
reports  and  charges  made  against  adults  where  children 
are  the  victims.  Officers  of  this  Bureau  are  required 
to  inspect  dance  halls,  skating  rinks,  cafes,  penny  ar- 

1  Following  the  closing  of  seven  precinct  stations  during  1918,  the 
number  of  patrolmen  assigned  as  juvenile  officers  was  reduced  from 
39  to  24. 


The  Prevention  of  Crime 

cades,   public  parks   and  other  places   frequented   by 
juveniles."  ^ 

In  many  cities  such  as  Indianapolis,  Newark  and  Se- 
attle, it  is  the  practice  to  detail  policemen  to  assist  pro- 
bation officers  attached  to  juvenile  courts. 

Obviously  this  work  involves  the  constant  association 
of  the  welfare  or  juvenile  officers  with  representatives  of 
other  organizations  and  government  departments  such  as 
the  truant  officers,  the  Children's  Society,  the  probation 
officers,  the  Charity  Organization  Society,  the  settlements, 
the  Big  Brothers,  the  churches,  etc.  This  is  a  point  of 
great  importance.  Police  work  cannot  be  isolated  from 
other  welfare  agencies  of  the  community  concerned  with 
social  problems.  It  cannot  be  divorced  from  all  the  or- 
ganized influences  that  are  working  for  better  conditions 
in  city  life.  Indeed  unless  the  police  are  in  a  position  to 
invoke  the  cooperation  of  schools,  clinics,  churches  and 
other  public  and  private  institutions  to  supplement  repres- 
sion and  if  possible  to  supplant  it  with  education  and  di- 
version, they  cannot  effectively  handle  the  task  which 
society  has  given  them.  The  new  policing  demands  a 
type  of  officer  interested  and  trained  in  social  service. 
With  representatives  of  this  character  the  police  depart- 
ment should  presently  be  able  to  stimulate  every  other 
community  agency  in  dealing  aggressively  with  untoward 
community  conditions. - 

1  Annual  Report  of  the  Los  Angeles  Police  Department,   1918-19. 

-  In  this  connection,  see  an  interesting  paper  by  August  VoUmer, 
chief  of  police  in  Berkeley,  California,  in  the  June,  1919.  number  of 
The  Policemen's  Xeics,  entitled  The  Policeman  as  a  Social  Worker. 
Chief  Vollmer's  views  on  this  whole  question  are  progressive  and 
stimulating. 

373 


American  Police  Systems 
Destitution. 

Poverty  as  a  cause  of  crime  is  common  knowledge  to 
every  policeman  who  patrols  the  streets  in  the  congested 
portions  of  our  cities.  He  sees  it  on  every  corner;  he 
deals  with  it  constantly  in  the  jails  and  police  stations. 
He  knows  that  even  when  dereliction  is  not  the  direct 
result  of  want,  crime  and  poverty  are  often  associated. 
"  I  have  seen  many  a  prisoner,"  said  Commissioner 
Woods,  "  who  had  been  inexorably,  it  almost  seemed  with 
deliberate  purpose,  driven  step  by  step  straight  into  an 
eddy  of  fate  where  there  seemed  nothing  else  to  do  but 
steal.  And  one  could  not  help  wondering  whether  the 
rest  of  us,  caught  in  the  same  swirling  current,  would 
have  done  any  better."  ^ 

It  cannot  be  expected,  of  course,  that  the  police  either 
as  individuals  or  as  organizations  can  grapple  with  the 
whole  complex  social  and  economic  question  of  poverty. 
Nevertheless,  as  social  agents  dealing  with  the  causes  of 
crime  they  cannot  leave  it  out  of  their  calculations. 

Not  a  few  departments  in  the  United  States  have  made 
a  beginning  in  placing  upon  the  policeman  responsibility 
for  reporting  conditions  of  individual  distress.  Police- 
men on  beat  probably  come  more  intimately  into  contact 
with  the  life  of  the  people  than  any  other  class  of  men, 
and  their  wide  opportunities  for  observation  can  be  har- 
nessed to  various  forms  of  constructive  social  work. 
Commissioner  Woods,  in  the  winter  of  191 4- 15,  when 
conditions  of  industrial  disorganization  threw  thousands 
of  people  out  of  employment,  developed  a  comprehensive 
system  of  contact.     A  small  fund  was  raised  among  the 

1  Crime  Prevention,  p.  37. 

374 


The  Prevention  of  Crime 

police  themselves,  and  a  plan  was  worked  out  which  pro- 
vided the  captain  of  every  precinct  with  a  book  of  tickets, 
each  marked  "  ten  cents."  ^  The  captains  made  arrange- 
ments with  a  grocer,  a  fuel  dealer  and  a  restaurant  keeper 
in  their  neighborhoods  to  honor  these  tickets,  sending 
their  accounts  to  headquarters  every  week.  In  any  part 
of  the  city,  therefore,  when  a  policeman  came  across  a 
case  of  distress,  he  took  the  sufferer  to  the  station  house, 
where  the  captain  or  lieutenant  in  charge  would  provide 
at  once  for  his  immediate  needs  and  would  then  put  him 
in  touch  with  some  private  association  or  church  where 
help  would  be  continued  as  long  as  necessary.  "  We  be- 
lieved it  was  the  duty  of  the  police,''  said  Commissioner 
Woods,  "  to  protect  society  by  preventing  as  much  as 
possible  of  the  crime  that  might  be  committed  by  these 
unfortunate  people  in  their  distress."  "  During  the  three 
years  in  which  this  plan  was  in  operation  in  New  York, 
3,262  families  and  individuals  were  thus  assisted. -"^ 

In  addition,  the  police  constituted  themselves  an  em- 
ployment agency  for  people  out  of  work.  Frequently  it 
was  necessary  to  create  jobs  where  none  existed  before. 
Thus,  the  people  living  in  a  city  block  would  be  induced 
by  the  police  to  employ  a  man  to  keep  the  street  and  side- 
walks clean  around  the  block,  pick  up  waste  paper  and 
other  litter,  and  generally  to  supplement  the  work  of  the 
Street  Cleaning  Department.  By  this  plan  alone  some 
scores  of  families  were  kept  together  that  otherwise  would 
have  been  reduced  to  privation  and  hopelessness.  During 
the  three  year  period  from  1914-17  in  which  this  employ- 

■•  Supplemented  by  private  funds.     The  total  amnunt  was  Sj.Soo. 

"  Crime  Prevention,  p.  39. 

3  Leroy  Peterson,  loc.  cit.,  p.  4. 

?>7S 


American  Police  Systems 

ment  agency  plan  was  in  operation,  3,040  men,  women 
and  children  were  placed  in  positions  through  the  efforts 
of  the  police. 

In  this  field,  as  in  the  field  of  juvenile  delinquency,  the 
work  of  the  police  brings  them  into  intimate  team-work 
with  all  the  private  agencies  that  are  seeking  in  various 
ways  to  better  community  conditions.  Every  officer  on 
the  street  becomes  a  representative  of  a  coordinated  social 
service.^  In  New  York  in  the  period  just  noted,  it  meant 
that  the  community  had  at  its  disposal  1 1,000  trained  men 
enlisted  in  constructive  social  work. 

Other  Crime  Prevention  Methods. 

It  is  impossible  in  a  short  chapter  even  to  outline  all 
the  steps  that  can  be  taken  by  an  alert  and  progressive 
police  force  in  dealing  with  the  problem  of  crime.  The 
development  of  women  police,  for  example,  although  still 
in  a  vague  and  uncertain  stage,  is  a  factor  of  supreme 
significance.  The  possibilities  of  their  work  with  women 
and  girls  along  preventive  lines,  as  well  as  with  the  con- 
ditions which  affect  women  and  girls,  are  almost  immeas- 
urable."    Similarly,   the  whole  new  field   of  psychiatry 

1  During  the  three  years  in  which  this  plan  was  in  operation  in 
New  York  the  PoHce  Department  cooperated  and  worked  with  a 
total  number  of  ^2  relief,  charitable  and  social  organizations.  In 
every  case,  existing  machinery  was  utilized  and  no  attempt  was  made 
in  any  way  to  duplicate  facilities  already  in  operation. 

-  In  too  many  departments  women  police  have  been  installed  with 
no  clear  idea  as  to  what  functions  they  were  to  perform.  Thus,  in 
some  cities  they  have  been  used  merely  as  police  matrons;  in  others 
they  have  been  uniformed  and  assigned  to  ordinary  patrol  duty. 
In  one  large  city  at  the  time  of  my  visit,  the  women  police  who  had 
recently  been  appointed  had  been  taught  to  shoot  and  were  then 
given  pistols  and  blackjacks  and  assigned  to  precinct  stations! 
Gradually,  however,  the  peculiar  value  of  women  police  officers  as 
preventive  agents  in  working  with  women  and  girls  has  come  to  be 


The  Prevention  of  Crime 

lies  open  for  development,  and  the  various  questions  of 
handling  the  mentally  defective,  so  that  he  may  not  add 
his  substantial  contribution  to  the  total  volume  of  crime, 
are  pressing  for  solution  and  action.  Again,  the  use  of 
police  as  parole  officers,  and  the  intimate  sympathetic  re- 
lationship between  the  police  machinery  and  parole  and 
probation  systems,  are  problems  that  are  coming  rapidly 
to  the  fore  in  society's  attack  on  crime.^  In  all  these  mat- 
ters the  police  have  an  important  part  to  play.  As  the 
police  chief  of  Berkeley,  California,  expressed  it :  "  The 
police  must  fight  for  everything  that  promises  a  reduction 
of  crime.  Society's  greatest  task  with  reference  to  crimi- 
nals is  to  protect  itself."  - 

Ultimately  the  attention  of  all  police  departments  and 
of  all  police  officials  will  be  centered  on  the  prevention  of 
crime.  The  conventional  phases  of  their  work  will  not 
be  neglected  —  tor  they  are  essential  '•' —  but  no  longer 

recognized.  In  some  cities  the  women  police  have  proved  particu- 
larly successful  as  detectives  in  certain  types  of  cases. 

1  In  New  York,  under  Commissioner  Woods,  84  police  sergeants 
were  detailed  to  act  as  parole  officers  in  looking  after  men  released 
from  the  work-house,  the  penitentiary  and  the  reformatory.  In  all, 
1,483  men  and  boys  were  assigned  to  the  care  of  these  officers,  who 
were  under  instructions  to  help  them  get  work  and  keep  in  touch 
with  them  at  least  once  a  week  for  one  year.  "  Show  your  paroled 
prisoner  at  your  first  conference  that  you  want  to  be  his  friend." 
ran  the  instructions  to  the  police  sergeants,  "  that  you,  as  well  as 
the  department,  stand  ready  to  assist  him  to  do  what  is  right  and 
keep  out  of  jail.  He  naturally  will  be  suspicious  of  you  and  your 
motives.  Put  it  up  to  him  good  and  strong  that  the  big  thing  the 
department  is  trying  to  do  is  to  prevent  crime,  and  that  everything 
that  you  can  do  along  that  line  will  be  good  police  duty."  (Leroy 
Peterson,  he.  cit.,  p.  2>2.)  The  St.  Louis  department  maintains  a 
parole  bureau  consisting  of  three  officers  as  part  of  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  force.  In  Los  Angeles  two  probation  bureaus  are  at- 
tached to  the  department,  one  for  men  and  one  for  women. 

'  Personally  communicated. 

3  ■'  Whatever  new  methods  are  tried,"  said  Commissioner  Woods, 
"we  must  not  neglect  the  old,  for  the  essential  basis  of  all  good 

Z77 


American  Police  Systems 

will  the  departments  be  contented  to  spend  their  energies 
in  sweeping  back  the  continuous  overflow  of  disorder 
without  regard  to  its  causes  or  sources.  It  is  possible, 
indeed,  that  as  this  new  technique  develops,  it  will  be 
made  to  constitute  a  separate  branch  of  the  department : 
a  bureau  of  crime  prevention  —  as  distinct  and  important 
a  division  of  activity  as  the  detective  bureau  or  the  uni- 
formed force  —  heading  up  under  its  direction  all  the 
conscious  agencies  of  the  department  that  are  working  to 
diminish  the  supply  of  criminals.  Up  to  the  present, 
whatever  work  the  departments  have  done  in  this  direc- 
tion has  been  scattered  through  a  series  of  squads  or  bu- 
reaus, maintaining  no  conscious  or  organic  relationship 
with  each  other.  Sometimes  these  squads  are  attached  to 
the  detective  bureau  with  resulting  confusion  and  inade- 
quate direction.  More  often  the  department  has  not  pro- 
gressed as  far  as  the  formation  of  any  squads,  and  crime 
prevention  work  is  handed  over  as  a  detail  to  a  few  scat- 
tered patrolmen. 

Whatever  form  of  organization  this  new  method  takes, 
its  basic  idea  gives  shape  to  the  police  work  of  the  future : 
not  a  conventional  system  of  patrol  or  a  systematized  pro- 
cedure for  making  arrests  —  valuable  as  these  activities 
may  be  —  but  an  unceasing  fight,  in  cooperation  with  all 
the  active  forces  of  society,  to  keep  criminals  from  com- 
mitting crime  and  people  from  becoming  criminals. 

police  work  is  the  character  and  physical  power  of  the  individual 
men.  They  must  be  strong  of  body,  stout  of  soul  —  sturdy,  two- 
fisted  specimens,  knowing  how  to  hold  themselves  in  restraint  even 
under  severe  provocation,  yet  prompt  and  powerful  to  act  with 
force  and  uncompromising  vigor  when  only  that  will  maintain 
order  and  protect  the  law-abiding."     (Crime  Preventioyi,  p.  3.) 


CHAPTER  Xr 

CONCLUSION 

Contrast  between  American  and  European  police  departments. — 
Europe  far  in  advance. —  American  progress  seen  by  comparison  of 
present  with  past. —  Irregular  character  of  improvement. —  Our 
achievement  sordid  and  unworthy. —  Importance  of  tlie  poHce  prob- 
lem. 

To  an  American  who  has  intimately  studied  the  oper- 
ation of  European  poHce  systems,  nothing  can  be  more 
discouraging  than  a  similar  survey  of  the  police  of  the 
United  States.  As  he  travels  from  east  to  west  across 
the  continent  he  is  oppressed  with  the  contrasts  that  meet 
him  on  every  side.  He  remembers  the  conscious  pride  of 
European  cities  in  their  police,  and  the  atmosphere  of 
public  confidence  in  which  they  carry  on  their  work.  He 
recalls  the  unbroken  record  of  rectitude  which  many  of 
their  forces  maintain  and  their  endeavor  to  create,  with 
the  aid  of  expert  leadership,  a  maturing  profession.  He 
remembers  the  infinite  pains  with  which  the  police  admin- 
istrators are  trained  and  chosen,  and  the  care  with  which 
the  forces  are  shielded  from  political  iiitluencc.  X'ivid 
in  his  mind  is  the  recollection  of  the  manner  in  which 
science  and  modern  business  methods  are  being  applied 
to  the  detection  of  crime,  so  that  on  the  whole  the  battle 
with  the  criminal  is  being  fought  with  .^teadily  increasing 
effectiveness. 

In  America,  on  the  other  hand,  the  student  of  police 

379 


American  Police  Systems 

travels  from  one  political  squabble  to  another,  too  often 
from  one  scandal  to  another.  He  finds  a  shifting  leader- 
ship of  mediocre  calibre  —  varied  now  and  then  by  flashes 
o^  real  ability  which  are  snuffed  out  when  the  political 
wheel  turns.  There  is  little  conception  of  policing  as  a 
profession  or  a  science  to  be  matured  and  developed.  It 
is  a  job,  held,  perhaps,  by  the  grace  of  some  mysterious 
political  influence,  and  conducted  in  an  atmosphere  sordid 
and  unhealthy.  It  is  a  treadmill,  worked  without  imagi- 
nation or  aim,  and  with  little  incentive  except  the  desire  to 
keep  out  of  trouble.  Instead  of  confidence  and  trust,  the 
attitude  of  the  public  toward  the  police  is  far  more  often 
than  not  one  of  cynicism  and  suspicion,  expressing  itself, 
occasionally,  in  violent  attacks  which  are  as  unjust  as 
they  are  ineffective.  In  the  interim  between  these  spasms 
of  publicity  the  average  police  force  sinks  in  its  rut,  while 
crime  and  violence  flourish. 

This  is  not  a  happy  picture,  and  the  contrast  between 
the  situation  on  the  two  sides  of  the  Atlantic  is  frankly 
disillusioning.  It  is  only  when  we  approach  the  facts 
from  another  angle  that  any  ray  of  encouragement  can 
be  seen.  A  basis  of  comparison,  perhaps  fairer  than 
the  juxtaposition  of  European  police  and  our  owm,  is  the 
contrast  between  what  our  system  is  today  and  what  it 
was  ten,  twenty  and  forty  years  ago.  Assuming  that  our 
present  measurement  by  European  standards  is  below  our 
hopes,  what  has  our  own  growth  been? 

It  is  this  perspective  which  furnishes  a  substantial  basis 
for  encouragement.  London's  police  department  had 
thirty-five  years  of  established  tradition  and  achievement 
behind  it  when  the  draft  riots  broke  out  in  New  York  in 

380 


Conclusion 

1863.  And  what  was  New  York's  police  force  then?  It 
was  an  iindiscipHned,  half-uniformed  mob,  armed  with 
clubs.  Between  that  day  and  this  a  revolution  has  been 
wrought  in  our  police  administration.  In  the  early  seven- 
ties the  police  of  San  Francisco  were  little  more  than  a 
sheriff's  posse,  and  the  hue  and  cry  was  the  method  of 
apprehending  criminals.  San  Francisco's  police  force  to- 
day, with  all  its  imperfections,  represents  a  new  era  in, 
public  service.  As  late  as  the  eighties  our  police  every- 
where were  regarded  by  the  citizens  with  a  resignation 
bordering  on  complacence,  as  the  private  armies  of  the 
political  parties  in  power.  Today  the  open  and  avowed 
connection  of  the  police  with  politics  arouses  widespread 
though  often  futile  protest.  It  was  in  1895  that  the 
Lexow  Commission  in  Xew  York  unearthed  scandals  in 
the  police  department  of  a  kind  and  to  a  degree  that  would 
be  almost  inconceivable  today.  Such  flagrant  conditions, 
in  open  defiance  of  public  right  and  decency,  may  exist 
here  and  there  even  now.  but  unlike  1895,  they  represent 
the  exception  and  not  the  rule.  Birmingham,  Alabama, 
has  none  too  compelling  a  reason  to  be  proud  of  her  police 
force,  but  even  she  can  stand  amazed  at  the  recollection  of 
the  rival  chiefs  of  police,  who,  under  the  political  system 
existing  only  a  dozen  years  ago,  stumped  the  city  for 
election  and  sought  for  votes  by  open  promises  of  leniency 
in  office. 

There  is  hardly  a  police  department  in  the  United 
States  where  similar  evidences  of  improvement  cannot  be 
found.  Only  a  blind  man  could  fail  to  see  that  with  all 
our  shuffling  incompetence  in  municipal  affairs  —  and  it 
is  ominous  enough  —  the  cumulative  effort  of  forty  years 

3«i 


American  Police  Systems 

for  a  decent  standard  of  local  government  in  the  United 
States  is  bearing  fruit,  not  so  evident  as  yet,  perhaps,  in 
constructive  results  —  although  even  here  it  has  regis- 
tered substantial  gains  —  as  in  the  general  toning  up  of 
our  political  life,  and  in  a  public  opinion  far  more  sensi- 
tive to  betrayal  and  abuse,  and  increasingly  intolerant  of 
laxity  and  ineptitude.  From  the  influence  of  these  silent 
but  potent  forces  in  American  life  our  police  departments 
have  not  escaped.  Measured  against  the  background  of 
the  past  they  show  a  real  advance. 

But  the  advance  has  been  discouragingly  irregular  —  a 
step  forward,  a  slip  back,  with  a  net  achievement  slight 
and  inadequate.  Improvement  is  not  permanent;  we  do 
not  hold  our  gains.  The  constructive  efforts  of  a  pro- 
gressive administration  are  likely  to  be  wiped  out  by  a 
reactionary  successor,  and  carefully  laid  plans  whose  in- 
stallation and  development  bear  promise  of  good  results 
are  abandoned  over  night.  Every  police  department  is 
a  graveyard  of  projects  and  improvements  which,  had 
they  been  developed  to  maturity,  would  have  reconstituted 
the  police  work  of  the  city.  They  have  died  because  the 
particular  administration  sponsoring  them  has  met  the 
fate  of  all  municipal  administrations,  and  the  succeeding 
regime,  to  justify  its  existence,  has  had  to  discredit  the 
work  and  aims  of  its  predecessor.  In  this  mean  play  of 
politics,  this  recurring  advance  and  reaction,  our  gains 
are  often  illusory. 

We  have,  indeed,  little  to  be  proud  of.  It  cannot  be 
denied  that  our  achievement  in  respect  to  policing  is  sordid 
and  unworthy.  Contrasted  with  other  countries  in  this 
regard  we  stand  ashamed.     With  all  allowances  for  the 

382 


Conclusion 

peculiar  conditions  which  make  our  task  so  difficult,  we 
have  made  a  poor  job  of  it.  Our  progress  has  fallen  far 
behind  our  needs.  Successful  in  the  organization  of  busi- 
ness and  commerce,  pre-eminent  in  many  lines  of  activity, 
we  must  confess  failure  in  the  elemental  responsibility  laid 
on  all  peoples  who  call  themseh'es  civilized,  of  preserving 
order  in  their  communities.  Surely  in  the  new  era  upon 
which  we  are  entering,  w^ith  its  challenge  to  forms  of 
government  and  political  faiths,  the  vision  of  America 
w^ill  not  be  blind  to  the  grave  importance  of  the  problem 
and  the  resourcefulness  of  America  will  not  be  battled  in 
attempting  the  solution. 


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INDEX 


Aberdeen,  Miss.,  50 

Adams,  Herbert  Baxter,  Norman 
Constables  in  America,  cited, 
57,  58,   note 

Age-Herald,  Birmingham,  Ala., 
quoted,  50 

Aix  la  Chapelle,  5 

Akron,  O.,  174,  186,  notes 

Alabama,  murder  cases  in,  30; 
police  control  in,  119 

Albany,  107,  138,  note;  172;  ad- 
ministrator's term  of  service 
in,  239 

AUinson  and  Penrose,  Philadel- 
phia, 16S1-1887,  A  History  of 
Municipal  Development,  59, 
note;  61,  note 

Altoona,  Penn.,  186,  note 

American,  Baltimore,  quoted  on 
Sunday  law,  51,  52 

American  Bar  Association,  re- 
ports of,  30,  32,  notes 

.Amory,  Thomas  C,  quoted  on 
state  police  legislation,  87 

Amsterdam,  police  commission, 
245 

Ancona,  Italy,  245 

Annals  of  the  American  Acad- 
emy of  Political  and  Social 
Science,  cited,  31,  174,  notes 

Annuaire  Statistique  de  la  Ville 
de  Paris,  cited,  5 

Annual  Report  of  the  Metropoli- 
tan Police  of  the  District  of 
Columbia,  quoted,   358 

Appointments,  civil  service  and 
police,  276  et  seq.;  292 

Astor  Place  riots.  New  York,  7,] 

3yi 


Athens,  Ga.,  283 

Atlanta,  negroes  in,  7;  79,  137; 
size  of  police  board,  138;  143, 
note:  148,  151;  politics  in  po- 
lice board,  153 ;  political  intlu- 
ences  in  police  administration, 
233;  inadequacy  of  police  rec- 
ords, 341 

Auburn,  N.  Y.,  174,  note 

Augusta,  Ga.,  283 

Austria,  unnecessary  functions 
of  police  department  in,  211 

Austria-Hungary,  population  of, 
5 

Austro-Hungarians,  5,  6,  8 

Autobiography  of  Theodore 
Roosezrlt,  quoted,  on  police 
examinations,  291 

Automobiles,  thefts  of,  table, 
19;  in  relation  to  patrol  serv- 
ice, 307  et  seq. 

Bail  system,  39  et  seq. 
Baker,  Newton  D.,  cited,  57 
Baltimore,  negroes  in,  7;  51,  67, 
90,  104,  105,  107,  114;  in  rela- 
tion to  state-controlled  police, 
119,  120,  124,  125,  129,  132,  133. 
136,  137;  size  of  police  board, 
138;  139,  140,  154,  note,  155, 
162,  202;  and  police  legislation. 
205,  208;  irrelevant  functions 
of  police,  212;  residential  re- 
quirements for  police  commis- 
sioner, 243 ;  police  examiners, 
271,  note;  police  methods,  279, 
281  :  organization  of  detective 
bureau,  334 


Index 


Banks,  General,  90,  note 

Bay  City,  Mich.,  174,  note 

Bayonne,  N.  J.,  population  of, 
167 

Bedini  riots,  Cincinnati,  72 

Berkeley,  Cal,  chief  of  police, 
265 ;  police  training  school  sys- 
tem, 298;  patrol  system,  309- 
311;  detective  instruction  at, 
332 ;  348,  note ;  in  relation  to 
crime   prevention,   ZT? 

Berlin,  foreign  element  in,  5 ; 
average  of  murders,  14;  iii; 
jurisdiction  of  police  president, 
170;  237 

Bertillon,  Alphonse,  system  of 
identification,  207 ;  decline  of 
system,  348  ct  seq. 

Bicycle  squads,   189 

Bingham,  General,  reorganiza- 
tion of  New  York  detective 
bureau,  2>2i7 

Birmingham,  Ala.,  negroes  in, 
7 ;  52,  109,  iT^y,  note ;  commis- 
sioner's salary,  175,  note;  com- 
missioner, 181 ;  182  ;  police  or- 
ganization, 184;  proportion  of 
police  to  population,  201 ;  chief 
of  police,  258;  police  system, 
270;  chief  of  police  quoted  on 

•  police  system,  274;  detective 
bureau,  328,  334;  police  and 
politics,  381 

Birmingham.  Eng.,  112;  police 
administration,  233,  236,  244 

Blankenburg  administration, 

193 
Board,  rise  of  the  police,  76  et 
seq.;  the  bi-partisan,  103  et 
seq.;  passing  of  the  police,  107 
et  seq.;  of  state  commissioners, 
129  et  seq.;  133;  control  vs. 
single-headed  control,  137  ct 
seq.;  appointment,  size  and 
functions    of    police    commis- 


sioners, 138;  weakness  of  po- 
lice control,  140 ;  administra- 
tion a  pc^rt-time  task,  141-143 ; 
meetings  of,  143 ;  lack  of 
unity  in  administration,  145 
et  seq.;  politics  in  administra- 
tion, 149-151 ;  the  elective,  151- 
154;  supposed  neutrality  of  bi- 
partisan, 154  et  seq.  See  also 
Commissioners 

Booth  system,  operation  of,  309, 
310 

"  Boss,"  the,  184 ;  relation  of,  to 
police  preferment,  271 

Boston,  foreign  element  of 
population,  5 ;  genesis  of  po- 
lice force,  59;  60,  62,  66,  96, 
105,  107,  108,  109;  in  relation  to 
state-controlled  police,  119- 
123;  129,  130,  131,  136,  149,  159, 
162,  164;  suburban  develop- 
ment, 166,  167;  169;  police 
commissioner,  170;  200;  pro- 
portion of  police  to  popula- 
tion, 201  ;  legislation  in  rela- 
tion to  police,  209,  210;  irrele- 
vant functions  of  police,  212; 
239 ;  police  methods,  2yy ;  280, 
281,  283,  292;  plan  of  police 
promotion,  293  ct  seq.;  Com- 
missioner O'Meara  quoted  on 
system  of  promotion,  294, 
note;  police  strike,  318,  320; 
detective  bureau,  328,  331 ;  or- 
ganization of  detective  bureau, 
22,2,]  338 

Boulogne,  5 

Bradford,  Ernest  S.,  Commis- 
sion Government  in  American 
Cities,  cited,  174,  note 

Breeding-places  of  crime,  358  et 
seq. 

Bremen,  5 

Brigade  de  Surete,  Paris,  4 

Bridgeport,  137,  note;  155,  note; 


392 


Index 


police  arrangements.  202;  po- 
lice system,  271,  note 

Bribery,  287  ct  seq. 

Bristol,  Eng.,   112 

Brooklyn,  75,  82,   168 

Bruere,  Henry,  The  New 
City  Government,  cited,  174, 
note 

Brussels,  Belgian  national  board 
of  identification,  351 

Budapest,  5 

ButYalo,  79,  107,  109,  137,  162, 
172,  174,  note;  175;  commis- 
sioner's salary,  175,  note  ;  182 ; 
director  of  public  safety,  193, 
194;  208;  police  methoils,  277; 
281 ;  organization  of  detective 
bureau,  2>2)i '.  method  of  de- 
tective supervision,  343 

Bureau  of  Municipal  Research, 
New  York,  cited,  32,  note ;  278, 
279;  344,  note;  345,  note 

Burglary,  comparative  statistics, 
15  et  scq.,  table,  16 

Cahalane,  Inspector  Cornelius, 
quoted,  269 

Calhoun,  Patrick,  trial  of,  37, 
note 

California  State  Bureau  of 
Criminal  Identification  and  In- 
vestigation,  352,   note 

Cambridge,  138,  note ;  162,  164, 
165 

Camden,  police  system  in,  271, 
note 

Canada  bureau  of  identification, 

351 

Canterbury,  Eng.,  245 

Carabinieri.  3  ;  Italian  patrol  sys- 
tem, 201 

Carmack,  Senator.  ;},j,  note 

Carter,  James  Coolidge,  quoted 
on  unnecessary  laws.  47 

Centennial  History  of  Cincinnati, 


Charles  Theodore  Greve,  cited, 
O3 

Centralization  vs.  decentraliza- 
tion in  detective  bureau  organ- 
ization, 2>ii  et  scq. 

Chap,  Thomas,  case  of,  40 

Charleston,  S.  C. :  negroes  in,  7; 
95 

Charleston,  W.  Va.,  174,  note 

Charlottenburg,   170 

Charts,  of  police  department  or- 
ganization, Chicago,  384;  De- 
troit, 385;  Los  Angeles,  386; 
New  York,  387 ;  Philadelphia, 
388;  St.  Louis,  389;  Washing- 
ton, 390 

Charters,  city,  203-216,  passim 

Chicago,  4;  character  of  popu- 
lation, s;  6,  10;  comparative 
table  of  murder  in,  11;  homi- 
cide, 73;  murder  record,  24; 
Tribune,  quoted,  2y;  Taft's 
speech  at,  1909,  quoted,  ^■, 
homicide  calculation  of  Trib- 
une quoted,  33;  law's  de- 
lay in,  35,  36;  2,7,  4^,  notes;  67; 
75,  114,  115,  137,  162,  164,  192; 
police  department,  196;  patrol 
system,  199;  irrelevant  func- 
tions of  police,  212;  police 
commission,  217  et  seq.;  cost 
of  police  department,  218; 
220;  police  system,  222;  police 
administrative  experiments, 
228;  police  methods.  271,  279, 
280,  281-285 ;  civil  service  en- 
tanglements in,  291,  292;  police 
training  school  system.  298  et 
scq.;  detective  bureau.  327- 
329;  organization  of  detective 
bureau,  2>ii,  34i  :  method  of 
detective  supervision,  343;  in- 
adequacy of  police  records. 
345.  346.  350;  chart  of  police 
department    organization,    384 


393 


Index 


Chicago  Crime  Commission.  36, 
note;  41,  note;  cited,  346,  note 

Chief  of  detective  bureau,  326  et 
scq. 

Chief  constables,  terms  of  office 
in  England  and  Scotland,  236, 

237 

Chief  of  police,  and  state  con- 
trol, 126,  127;  appointment  of, 
139;  142,  143;  interference  of 
board  with  functions  of,  145 
et  seq.;  191  et  seq.,  204,  249  ct 
seq.;  term  of  office  of,  254  et 
seq.;  tenure  of  office,  de- 
pendent upon  politics,  256  et 
seq.;  and  civil  service,  259  et 
seq.;  personnel  in  position  of, 
264  et  seq.;  length  of  term  in 
different  American  cities,  279, 
note ;  status  of,  in  Georgia 
towns,  283,  284 

Chinese,  8 

Cincinnati,  riots  in,  72 ;  74,  78, 
98,  99,  105,  107,  112,  115,  137; 
term  of  chief  of  police,  255 ; 
police  methods,  279,  281 ;  police 
training  school  system,  298  et 
seq. 

City  manager,  174;  plan,  186, 
187;  191  et  seq. 

Civil  Police  of  Johannesburg 
and  Pretoria,  225 

Civilian  police  administrators, 
225  et  seq. 

Civil  service,  chief  of  police  and, 
259  et  seq.;  in  relation  to  police, 
270  et  seq.;  limitations  of,  284 
et  seq.;  in  felation  to  detec- 
tive bureau,  328  et  seq. 

Civil  War,   120 

Clark,  John,  the  case  of,  256- 
257 

Cleveland,  O.,  6,  72,  yz,  75,  79, 
ICO,  107,  109,  132,  137;  head 
of  detective  bureau   198;  pro- 


portion of  police  to  popula- 
tion, 201;  204,  210;  police  ad- 
ministrative experiments,  228; 
police  methods,  277,  279,  280, 
281,  283 ;  detective  bureau,  328, 
331;   341,  350 

Codding  the  Criminal,  by  Judge 
Carl  Nott,  quoted,  31 

Columbia  University,  police 
course  at,  333,  note 

Columbus,   137,  note 

Commissaircs  de  police,  Paris, 
201 

Commission  government,  the  po- 
lice force  and,  174  et  seq.; 
principle  of,  explained,  176  et 
scq.;  and  transient  manage- 
ment, 180  et  seq. 

Commission  Government  in 
American  Cities,  by  E.  J. 
Bradford,  article  cited,  174, 
note 

Commissions,  municipal  coun- 
cils in  relation  to  state  police, 
129  et  seq.;  personnel  of,  175 
ct  scq. 

Commissioner,  the,  188-216,  pas- 
sim, 217;  personal  qualifica- 
tions of,  219,  220;  promotions 
to  position  of,  220  et  seq.;  ten- 
ure of  office  of,  234  et  seq.; 
residential  requirements  for, 
242  et  seq.:  solution  of  prob- 
lem regarding,  246  et  seq.;  re- 
lation of  chief  of  police  to, 
251  et  seq.  See  also  Director 
of  Public  Safety. 

Commissioners,  police,  Boston, 
123;  Fall  River,  124;  Balti- 
more, 129;  St.  Louis,  129; 
functions  of,  138;  objections  to 
state  control  of,  141  et  seq. 
See  also  Board 

Competitive  system  of  police 
promotion,  279  et  seq. 


394 


Index 


Connecticut,  police  legislation  in, 

204 

Conrad,  Mayor,  71 

Constables'  Watch,  59 

Copenhagen,  3 ;  police  commis- 
sioner, 237 

Constabulary,  state,  system, 
171 

Constables,  English  method  of 
recruiting,  277,  278 

Coordination,  plea  for,  in  de- 
tective work,  338  ct  scq. 

Costello,  A.  E.,  Our  Police  Pro- 
tectors, cited,  59,  note;  71,  note 

Courts,  magistrates',  laxity  in, 
41-43;  disciplinary,  281  et  scq. 

Crime,  preponderance  of,  in 
America,  9-27;  relation  of  he- 
terogeneity of  population  to, 
20  et  scq.;  tables,  21,  22,  23; 
responsibility  of  lax  magis- 
trates, 34  et  seq.;  the  public 
and,  43  et  seq.;  prevention  of, 
219,  354  et  seq.;  breeding 
places  of,  358  et  seq.;  condi- 
tions making  for,  363  et  scq.; 
public  precautions  against,  363 
et  seq.;  development  of  pre- 
vention bureau,  368  et  seq. 

C)une  Prevention,  by  Arthur 
Woods,  quoted,  342,  355,  374, 
375.  378 

Criminals,  identification  of,  142; 
methods  of  identirication  of, 
348  ct  seq. 

Curtis,  Commissioner,  in  rela- 
tion to  competitive  examina- 
tions, 295,  note 

Czechs,  8 


Dactyloscopic  (finger-print)  sys- 
tem of  identification,  348  ct 
scq. 

Dallas,     Tex.,     138,     note;     162. 


174;  director  of  public  safety, 
181 

Danzig,  5 

Dayton,  O.,  bi-partisan  board  in, 
no;  138,  note;  174,  note;  city 
manager,  186,  187;  police  su- 
pervision in,  190-192;  detec- 
tive bureau,  328 

Denver,  state  control  in,  loi  ; 
137,  note;  term  of  chief  of  po- 
lice, 255 ;  organization  of  de- 
tective bureau,  334 

Des  Moines,  174,  note;  185; 
term  of  chief  of  police,  255 

Destitution.     See  Poverty 

Detective  bureau,  Paris,  3,  142; 
organization  of,  2>i?>  \  plea  for 
more  businesslike  methods  in, 
339  et  seq. 

Detective  force,  326  et  scq.;  se- 
lection of  personnel,  328  et 
seq.;  functions  of,  354;  cam- 
paign in  New  York  against 
gangsters,  362,  363 

Detective  record  systems,  340,  341 

Detective  work,  lack  of  super- 
vision in,  342  et  seq. 

Detectives,  220;  term  of  chief 
of,  255;  312;  training  of,  331 
ct  scq.;  precinct,  334  et  seq. 

Detroit,  6,  32,  note;  79,  92,  93. 
98,  108,  137,  168,  note;  204; 
irrelevant  functions  of  po- 
lice, 212;  police  administrative 
experiments,  228,  255 ;  police 
methods,  279;  police  training 
school  system,  298;  patrol  sys- 
tem, 309,  311  ;  detective  bureau, 
331;  detective  record,  346; 
training  of  detectives,  35°; 
chart  of  police  department  or- 
ganization, 370,  385 

Devizes,    Eng.,   245 

Director  of  public  safety,  choice 
of,   175  ct  scq.;   178,    179.    iSi. 


395 


Index 


191  et  seq.;  responsibility  di- 
vided with  city  commission, 
examples,  182,  183.  Sec  also 
Commissioner. 

Discipline,  civil  service  in  rela- 
tion to,  281  ct  seq. 

Dismissal,  system  in  American 
cities,  287  et  seq. 

Disorderly  houses,   123 

Draft  Riots,  380,  381 

Dresden,  state-controlled  police 
expenditure,  134,  note ;  245 ; 
detective  record  system,  347 

Drugs,  as  crime  breeders,  357, 
358 

Durham,  N.  C.,  151,  note 

Dutch  Colonists,  59 

East  St.  Louis,  111.,  Congres- 
sional investigation  of  negro 
riots  in,  41,  note;  174,  note; 
182,  note;  detective  force,  327 

Edinburgh,  chief  of  police 
quoted  on  homicide,   14 

Education,  of  public  by  police,  364 

Efficiency  tests,  280,  281 

Elgin,  111.,  personnel  of  com- 
mission, 176 

Ellis,  Havelock,  cited,  57,  note 

Emerson,  Ralph  Waldo,  Politics, 
quoted,  56 

End  of  Law  as  Developed  in  Le- 
gal Rules  and  Doctrines,  The, 
by  Roscoe  Pound,  47,  note 

Enforcement  of  Laws  in  Cities, 
by  Brand  Whitlock,  cited,  53, 
note 

England,  combined  population 
of,  and  Wales,  10;  murders  in, 
and  Wales,  table.  11;  prompt- 
ness of  justice  in,  36  et  seq.; 
116;  standardization  of  police 
system  in,  172,  173 ;  police  leg- 
islation in,  208  et  seq.;  police 
commissioners  in,  209;   police 


machinery  of,  211;  police  ex- 
ecutives in,  225 ;  police  admin- 
istration in,  232  et  seq.;  police 
control  in,  241 ;  242 ;  police 
strikes  in,  318;  creation  of  Po- 
lice Federation  in,  321,  note; 
training  of  detectives  in,  332. 
Sec  also  Great  Britain. 

Enquirer,  Cincinnati,  cited,  99, 
note 

Enright,  Commissioner,  New 
York,  reorganization  of  detec- 
tive bureau  by,  2)?)7\  quoted  on 
gambling   places,   358,   359 

Europe,  police  of,  and  America 
contrasted,  3  et  seq.;  patrol 
system  in,  201  ;  contrast  of  po- 
lice legislation  in,  and  Amer- 
ica, 208  et  seq.;  extraordinary 
functions  of  police  departments 
in,  211  et  seq.;  in  relation  to 
residential  qualifications  for 
commissioner,  242  et  seq.;  po- 
lice organizations  of,  and 
America  contrasted,  274  et 
seq.;  detective  schools  in,  t^t,2; 
detective  record  systems  in, 
347;  identification  systems  of, 
348  et  seq.;  379  et  seq. 

European  Police  Systems,  by 
Raymond  B.  Fosdick :  cited, 
83,  note;  134;  169,  170,  172 
211,  223,  225,  232,  236,  237,  238, 
240,  244,  245,  27s,  296,  305,  320, 
348,  352 

Evening  News,  Detroit,  cited  on 
self-government,  98,  note 

Evening  Post,  New  York,  cited, 

325 

Evening  Transcript,  Boston, 
cited,  95,  96 

Evolution  of  Our  Criminal  Pro- 
cedure, by  Samuel  Scoville, 
Jr.,  quoted,  31 

Examinations,  of  candidates  for 


396 


Index 


promotion,  279;  Commissioner 
Woods  quoted  on  civil  service, 
289,   290;    for  detective    force, 
328  ct  scq. 
Ex-convicts,  the  police  and,  366 

Fall  River,  Mass.,  6 ;  in  relation 
to  state-controlled  police,  119; 
police  departmnet,  123;  124, 
137,  note;    155,  162,   164 

Federalists,   74 

Finger-print  (dact3loscopic)  sys- 
tem of  identification.  348  ct  seq. 

Flushing,  N.  Y..  82,  note 

Folk,  Joseph  W.,  cited,  126; 
quoted,   135,   136 

Ford  cars,  in  patrol  sj'stem,  310, 

311 
Fort  Worth,  Texas,  174,  note 
Fouche,  the  Paris  police  and,  11 1 
France,  116;  the  police  commis- 
sioner in,  209;  criminal  identi- 
fication   system    of,    348,    349; 
national    bureau    of    identifica- 
tion, 351 
Free  Press,   Detroit,   quoted   on 

state  police  legislation,  92 
Fresno,  Cal.,  174,  note 
Fuld,     Lconhard     Felix,     Police 
Administration,  cited,  57,  note; 
cited,  27y 

Gambling,  quotation  from  Chi- 
cago superintendent  of  police 
on,  42;   dens,   123,  357  ct  seq. 

Gangsters,  police  and,  360  ct  seq. 

Gemeindcrath,   233 

Geneva,  223;  police  administra- 
tion, 233 

Gerard,  J.   W.,  quoted,   71 

Germans,  8 

Germany,  116;  state-controlled 
police  expenditures,  134.  note ; 
unnecessary  functions  of  po- 
lice department  in,  211;  police 


administration  in,  234;  police 
control  in,  241 

Girard,  Stephen,  bequest  to 
Philadelphia  police,  63;  clause 
of    will    quoted,    63,    64,    note 

Glasgow,  homicide  record  of, 
13;  police  administration,  233; 
236 

Globe,  Boston,  quoted,  96 

Goodnow,  Frank  J.,  Municipal 
Home  Rule,  cited,  120,  note 

Government  by  Commission,  by 
Clinton  Rogers  Woodruff, 
cited,  174,  note 

Grand  Rapids,  138,  186;  term 
of  chief  of  police,  256 

Grant,   Mayor,   103 

Great  Britain,  211,  244;  police 
methods  of,  277  et  seq.;  bu- 
reau of  identification,  351.  See 
also  England 

Greenville,  S.  C,  151,  note 

Greve,  Charles  Theodore,  cited, 
63,  note;  74 

Guild,  Governor,  quoted  on  sin- 
gle commissioner  for  Boston, 
108 

Gunmen,  360  ct  seq. 

Guttenberg,  N.  J.,  population  of, 
167 

Hague,  The,  3 

Hamburg,  Germany,  police  pres- 
ident of,  237 

Harper's  police,  66,  note 

Hartford,  Conn.,  161;  police 
system  of,  271.  note 

Hatton,  A.  R.,  The  Control  of 
Police,  cited,   120,  note 

"  Hawes  '"  board,  126 

Helper,  Hinton  R..  The  Impend- 
ing Crisis,  go,  note 

Henry,  Sir  Edward,  police  com- 
missioner of  London,  225 ; 
term  of  service,  236 


397 


Index 


Herald,  Cleveland,  quoted  on  his- 
tory of  police  force,  93 

History  and  Analysis  of  the 
Commissioner  and  City  Mana- 
ger Plans  of  Municipal  Gov- 
ernment in  the  United  States, 
by  Tsao-Shuen  Chang,  cited, 
174,   17s,  note 

History  of  the  Government  of 
Denver,  by  Clyde  Lyndon 
King,  quoted,  loi 

Hoboken,  population  of,  167 ; 
police,   168 

Hoffman,  Frederick  L.,  cited,  2)^, 
note 

Home  rule,  state  control  in  re- 
lation to  problem,  128  et  seq.; 
210 

Homicide,  comparative  table  of, 
13 ;  29  ct  seq. 

Houston,  Texas,  138,  note ;  174, 
note;  175;  personnel  of  com- 
mission,  176 


Identification,  methods  of  crim- 
inal, 348  et  seq.;  plea  for  a  na- 
tional system,  350-3S3 
Illinois,  delays  of  justice  in,  34 
Indianapolis,  7,  107.  115,  137; 
size  of  police  board,  138;  139, 
155,  157;  jurisdiction  of  di- 
rector of  public  safety,  188, 
note;  politics  and  police  ad- 
ministration, 233 ;  police  sys- 
tem, 270,  272,  273,  297;  or- 
ganization of  detective  bureau, 

334 

International  Association  of 
Chiefs  of  Police,  351,  358,  note 

Italians,  5,  8 

Italy,  national  bureau  of  identifi- 
cation in,  351 

Ivin,  William  M.,  cited,  213,  214, 
note 


Jackson,  Andrew,  74;  quoted,  83 
Jacksonville,   Fla.,   174,  note 
Jamaica,  N.  Y.,  82,  note 
Jefferson,        Thomas,        Works, 

quoted.  75,  note 
Jersey  City,   137;  population  of, 
167;    169,   170,   174,  note;   per- 
sonnel    of     commission,     176; 
director  of  public  safety,   182, 
183 ;    184 ;    police   methods    in, 
279;  280,  281 
Jones,  Mayor  of  Toledo,  55 
Journal  of   the  American  Insti- 
tute   of    Criminal    Law    and 
Criminology,  quoted  on  police 
training     course,     299,     note; 
cited,  346,  note ;  cited,  358 
Judicial    Statistics    of   Scotland, 

cited  on  murders,  11,  note 
Junior  police,  368  et  seq. 
Juvenile  delinquency,  367  ct  seq. 
Juvenile  officers,  371  et  seq. 


Kalamazoo,    Mich.,     174,    note; 

186,  note 
Kane,  Colonel,  90,  note 
Kansas  City,  Kan.,  174,  note 
Kansas    City,    Mo.,   79,    91,    114; 
in   relation   to   state-controlled 
police,    119;    120,    137;    size  of 
police  board.  138,  144,  150,  162 ; 
personnel   of  commission,   176; 
232;  police  system,  270;  police 
superintendent,   272;   297;    pa- 
trol system,  309,  310;  detective 
bureau,   328;    arrests    in,    340; 
inadequacy    of   police   records, 
341 
Kiel,  5 
Kiev,  6 

King,  Clyde  Lyndon,  quoted,  loi 
King,    Governor   of    New    York, 


Kinney,        Inspector,        Detroit, 


398 


Ind 


ex 


quoted  on  automobiles  in  pa- 
trol work,  311,  312 

Know-Nothing  riots,  Cincinnati, 
72 

Konigsberg,  5 

Konversationslcxikon,  Meyer, 
cited,  5 

Kuzios,  Ben,  docket  quoted  in 
case  of,  35,  36 

La  Salic,  79,  note 

Labor  unionism,  the  police  and, 
7,22  ct  seq. 

Laiv:  Its  Origin,  Grozvth  and 
Function,  by  J.  C.  Carter, 
quoted,  47 

Laiv,  Police  and  Social  Prob- 
lems, Newton  D.  Baker,  57, 
note 

Leadership,  principle  of  respon- 
sible, 160  ct  scq. 

"  Leatherhead,"  defined,  61,  note 

Leavenworth,  Kan.,  351 

Leipzig,  state-controlled  police 
expe.iditure,  134,  note;  police 
administration,  233 

Levermore,  Charles  H..  cited,  60, 
note 

Lcxow  Commission,  103 ;  report 
on  bi-partisan  board,  quoted, 
104;  114;  report  of,  quoted, 
214;  381 

Lichtenberg,   170 

Limits  of  Effective  Legal  Action, 
by  Dean  Roscoe  Pound,  cited, 
47 

Liquor  Laws,  123 

Liverpool,  homicides  in,  11; 
comparative  table  of  homicides 
in,  13;  112;  police  administra- 
tion, 2:ii ;  245 ;  polic*  strike, 
318 

London,  3 ;  national  character 
of  population,  4;  5;  murders 
in,  II  ;  homicides  in,  compara- 


tive table,  13;  Assizes,  mur- 
der trials  in,  36;  iii;  di- 
vided police  jurisdiction,  169; 
201,  223;  police  commissioner, 
225 ;  police  administration, 
232;  average  term  of  commis- 
sioner's office  tenure,  236;  244, 
245 ;  appointments  to  police 
department,  277,  278;  promo- 
tion method,  295  ct  scq.;  in 
relation  to  police  training 
school,  305;  police  strike,  318, 
320;  national  bureau  of  identi- 
fication at,  351 ;  prestige  of  po- 
lice department,  380 

London  and  Neiv  York:  Their 
Crime  and  Police,  by  James 
W.  Gerard,  quoted,  71 

Long,  Chief  of  Police,  Newark, 
quoted  on  relation  between 
drugs  and  crime,  358 

Long  Island  City,  168 

Los  Angeles,  homicides  in,  13; 
114;  ^37,  162;  size  of  police 
board,  138;  143;  police  depart- 
men  ,  194  ct  seq.;  police  ad- 
ministrative experiments,  229; 
term  of  chief  of  police,  254; 
police  methods,  279,  280,  281 ; 
patrol  system,  309 ;  detective 
bureau,  328;  juvenile  bureau 
of  police  department,  372;  377; 
chart  of  police  department  or- 
ganization, 386 

Louisville,  negroes  in,  7;  137; 
size  of  police  board,  138;  ju- 
risdiction of  director  of  pub- 
lic safety,  188,  note ;  police 
system,  270,  273,  274;  police 
training  school  system,  298  ct 
seq.;  detective  bureau,  328 

Lowell,  President  A.  Lawrence ; 
138,  note;  174,  note;  cited,  180: 
Public  Opinion  and  Popular 
Coicrnmcnt,  cited,  238;  242 


399 


Index 


Lucas,  George,  the  case  of,  36 
Lynn,   Mass.,    174;    personnel  of 

commission,   176 
Lynchburg,  Va.,  174,  note 

Machine,   the   police  forec  as  a, 

313 

Macon,  Ga.,  283 

Manchester,  Eng.,  112;  police 
administration,    233 ;    236 ;    245 

Manchester,  N.  H.,  term  of  chief 
of  police,  256 

Marseilles,  223 ;  police  adminis- 
tration, 233 

Massachusetts,  state  control,  123 ; 
240 

Matsell,  Chief  of  Police,  New 
York,  T2,  note 

Mayne,  Sir  Richard,  first  chief 
of  Metropolitan  Police  Force, 
83,  84;  term  of  service,  236 

Mayor-commissioner,  salary  of, 
175,  note 

Memphis,  negroes  in,  7 ;  murder 
record,  25;  52,  137,  note;  162, 
174,  note ;  mayor-commis- 
sioner's salary,  175,  note;  com- 
missioner of  fire  and  police, 
179,  181 ;  term  of  chief  of  po- 
lice, 254 ;  282 ;  detective  bureau, 
328 

Metropolitan  Police  Force,  Lon- 
don, 3,  4,  III,  201,  233 

Meudon,   170 

Michigan,  police  legislation,  203 

Milwaukee,  105;  107;  size  of  po- 
lice board,  138;  powers  of  po- 
lice board,  139;  155,  note;  other 
functions  combined  with  police, 
188,  note;  proportion  of  police 
to  population,  201 ;  irrelevant 
functions  of  police,  212;  police 
methods,  279;  280,  281,  283 

Minneapolis,  102,  107,  137,  162; 
term  of   chief   of  police,   254, 


255 ;  police  system,  271 ;  280,  281 

Missouri,  police  control,  119; 
state-controlled  police  expen- 
diture, 135;  police  legislation, 
207 

Mobile,  board  of  public  safety, 
188,  note 

Mobilization,  types  of  police,  ex- 
plained, 215  et  seq. 

Montgomery,  Ala.,  poHce  control 
in,  119 

Morgan,  Governor,  New  York, 
84;  quoted,  88 

Moscow,  6 

Motor  vehicles,  part  played  in 
patrol  work,  309  et  seq. 

Munich,  244,  245 

Mnmcip.al  Freedom,  Oswald 
Ryan,  cited,  174,  note 

Municipal  vs  state  control,  118- 
159,  passim 

Munro,  William  Bennett,  Prin- 
ciples and  Methods  of  Munici- 
pal Administration,  cited,  120, 
note 

Murder,  comparative  statistics, 
10  et  seq.;  trials,  22>-2,7 

Naples,  245 

Napoleon,  establishment  of  Paris 
police  organization  by,  11 1 

^ashville,  52;  negroes  in,  138, 
note;  162,  174,  note;  175;  com- 
missioner of  fire  and  police,  179 

National  Bureau  of  Criminal 
Identification,  351 

National  Municipal  Review, 
cited,  186,  note 

National  Police  Journal,  cited, 
350,  note 

Negro,  relative  population,  table, 
7 ;  criminal  record  in  Washing- 
ton, D.  C,  tables,  22,  23 ;  riots 
in  East  St.  Louis,  41,  note; 
6S 


400 


Index 


Neukolln,   170 

New  Bedford,  138,  note 

Neiv  City  Government,  The,  by 
Henr3'  Bruere,  cited,  174,  note 

New  Hampshire,  police  control, 
119 

New  Haven,  137,  note ;  size  of 
police  board,  138;  141,  note; 
143,  155.  note;  204 

New  Jersey,  police  situation  in 
northern,  i6g ;  disciplinary  ac- 
tions in,  2S2,  note 

New  Orleans,  negroes  in,  7;  Sun- 
day law,  49,  52 ;  78,  94,  98,  115 ; 
peculiarities  of  police  control, 
133;  size  of  police  board,  139; 
174,  note;  director  of  public 
safety,  178;  proportion  of  po- 
lice to  population,  201 ;  229, 
note;  police  methods,  2yy;  de- 
tective bureau,  328;  inade- 
quacy of  police  records,  341 

New  York,  heterogeneous  popu- 
lation of,  4  ct  seq.;  homicides 
in,  comparative  table,  IZ ', 
study  of  homicide  record,  23; 
delay  of  justice  in,  34,  35; 
genesis  of  police  force,  59;  62, 
66 ;  riots  in,  72,  yi ;  example 
of,  81  et  seq.;  105,  107,  108; 
159;  suburbs  of,  167;  propor- 
tion of  police  to  population, 
201;  police  arrangements,  202; 
police  legislation,  205;  208;  ir- 
relevant functions  of  police, 
212-214;  police  commissioner, 
217  et  seq.;  cost  of  police  de- 
partment, 218;  220;  police  ad- 
ministrative experiments,  227, 
228;  231;  commissioner's  ten- 
ure of  office,  235  et  seq.;  239; 
uniformed  police  in.  269;  civil 
service  and  police  system,  271  ; 
recruiting  system,  278;  police 
methods,    279,    280,    281 ;    trial 


system,  282  et  seq.;  285 ;  dis- 
missals from  force,  288,  289; 
police  training  school  system, 
298  et  seq.;  patrol  system,  309; 
detective  bureau,  328,  331;  at- 
titude toward  training  de- 
tectives, 332 ;  reorganization 
of  detective  bureau,  336,  2ii7) 
method  of  detective  supervi- 
sion, 342 ;  police  records,  344 ; 
detective  records,  346;  gangs 
in,  360  et  seq.;  development  of 
crime  prevention  bureau,  3O8 
cl  seq.;  parole  officers  in,  ;iyy, 
note;  police  force  in  1863,  381; 
chart  of  police  department  or- 
ganization, 387 

Newark,  N.  J.,  65,  note;  67,  105; 
director  of  public  safety,  178, 
179;  commissioner's  tenure  of 
office,  238;  police  methods, 
277,  279;  281;  police  training 
school  system,  298  et  seq.; 
training  of  detectives,  331 ; 
organization  of  detective  bu- 
reau, 334 ;  method  of  detective 
supervision,  343 ;  in  relation  to 
juvenile  delinquents,   272) 

Newtown,  N.  Y.,  82,  note 

Niagara  Frontier  Police  Bill,  79, 
note 

Night  watch,  60 

Norfolk,  Va.,  174,  note;  186, 
note 

North  Bergen,  population  of, 
167 

Nott,  Judge  Carl,  Coddling  the 
Criminal,  quoted,  31 


Oakland,  Cal.,  137,  note;  174, 
note ;  police  methods,  277 ;  in 
relation  to  criminal  identifica- 
tion, 350 

O'Connor,  John  J.,  256,  257 


401 


Index 


Odessa,  6 

Ohio,  police  legislation,  204; 
home  rule  in,  210;  disciplinary 
actions  in,  282,  note 

Oldham,  Eng.,  245 

Omaha,  94,  105,  107,  109,  115, 
137,  note;  director  of  public 
safety,  181,  182,  184,  185;  po- 
lice system,  271 ;   282,  note 

O'Meara,  Commissioner  Stephen, 
of  Boston ;  quoted  on  the  lax- 
ity of  magistrates,  41,  42; 
quoted  on  political  freedom  re- 
sulting from  state  police  con- 
trol, 122;  159,  230;  290;  quot- 
ed, 294,  note ;  quoted  on  sys- 
tem of  promotion,  295 

Oregon,   homicide   in,  31,  32 

Ottawa,  Canadian  national 
bureau     of     identification     at, 

351 
Our    Police    Protectors,    A.    E. 
Costello,  cited,  59,  note 


Paris,  foreign-born  element  in, 
5;  III,  201,  223;  police  admin- 
istration, 232 ;  in  relation  to 
police  training  school,  305 ; 
training  of  detectives,  ^yy 

Parole  officers,  2y7 

Party  machine,  civil  service  vs., 
271  et  scq. 

Passing  of  the  Bcrtillon  System 
of  Identification,  The,  by 
Raymond  B.  Fosdick,  cited, 
350 

Paterson,  43 

Patrol,  old  system  of,  109  et  seq.; 
306  et  seq.;  decline  of  foot, 
407,  note 

Patrolmen,  politics  and,  153, 
154;  220;  contrast  between 
European  and  American  meth- 
ods   of     appointment,    277    et 


seq.;  qualifications  of,  accord- 
ing to  Commissioner  O'Meara, 
290,  291 ;  "  crime  prevention," 
359,  360;  and  juvenile  delin- 
quents, 371,  372 

Peel,  Sir  Robert,  83,  208 

Pennsylvania,  law's  delays  in, 
34 ;  police  legislation  in,  239 

Peterson,  Leroy,  cited,  367; 
quoted,  2y7,  note 

Petrograd,  6 

Philadelphia,  genesis  of  police 
force,  59-65;  66,  yy,  78,  109, 
132,  137;  jurisdiction  of  di- 
rector of  public  safety,  188, 
note ;  192  et  seq.;  patrol  sys- 
tem, 198;  proportion  of  police 
to  population,  201;  202;  irrel- 
evant functions  of  police,  212, 
213 ;  cost  of  police  depart- 
ment, 218;  police  administra- 
tive experiments,  228;  231; 
commissioner's  tenure  of  of- 
fice, 237;  term  of  office  of 
chief  of  police  (superinten- 
dent), 255;  280,  281,  283,  284, 
285,  291 ;  police  training  school 
system,  298  et  scq.;  detective 
bureau,  328 ;  police  records, 
341 ;  chart  of  police  depart- 
ment organization,  388 

Phillips,  Wendell,  speech  of, 
cited,  88,  note 

Pittsburgh,  132,  137,  162;  super- 
intendent of  police,  197;  pro- 
portion of  police  to  popula- 
tion, 201 ;  police  administrative 
experiments,  228;  police  ad- 
ministration and  politics,  233 ; 
term  of  chief  of  police,  254 ; 
25s ;  police  methods,  277,  279 ; 
disciplinary  record,  286,  287; 
civil  service  in,  292 ;  detective 
bureau,  327,  328;  338 

Plainclothes  men,  227,   338 


402 


Index 


Playgrounds,  in  relation  to 
crime  prevention,  369 

Poles,  8 

Police,  the  American  problem, 
3  ct  seq.;  victims  of  the  law's 
delay,  27  et  scq.;  and  Sunday 
laws,  49  et  seq.;  vexations  of 
earlj',  59  et  seq.;  rise  of  self- 
controlled  system,  80  et  seq.; 
part  played  by  politics  in  de- 
velopment of,  115  et  seq.;  state- 
controlled,  128  ct  seq.;  method 
of  appointing  and  removing  of- 
ficers under  state  control,  139 
et  seq.;  appointments  of  heads, 
160  et  scq.;  161,  165;  jurisdic- 
tion of  Berlin  president,  170; 
uniformed  police,  2C8  et  scq.; 
civil  service  in  relation  to,  270 
et  seq.;  promotion  of  uni- 
formed, 279  et  seq.;  school,  298 
et  seq.;  types  of  mobilization 
explained,  315  et  seq.;  unions, 
316   et   seq.;    responsibility   of 


67  et  seq.;  changes  in,  during 
50  years,  112,  113;  present 
state  of,  118;  state  vs.  munici- 
pal, 119  ct  seq.;  financial  secur- 
ity of  state  control,  133  et  seq.; 
development  of  single-headed, 
'57-159;  special  problems  of, 
160-187 

Police  department,  jurisdiction 
of,  166  et  seq.;  legal  restric- 
tions governing,  203  et  scq.; 
irrelevant  functions  of,  211  et 
seq.;  organization  of,  188- 
216 

Police  force.  Greater  New  York, 
168 ;  commission  government 
and,  174  et  seq. 

Police  Federation  created  by 
Parliament.  321,  note 

Police  Functions  in  Labor  Dis- 
putes, by  Arthur  Woods,  cited, 
325 

Police  Practice  and  Procedure, 
uses  of,  302 


public  to,  320  e^  jt'(7.,' in  relation      Police     Records    and    Recollec- 


to  crime  prevention,  354  et 
seq.;  dutj'  of,  in  regard  to 
breeding  places  of  crime,  357 
et  scq.;  campaign  against  gang- 
sters, 362,  363 ;  ex-convicts 
and,  366;  in  relation  to  poverty 
as  a  source  of  crime,  374  et 
scq.;  women,  376,  note :  prog- 
ress of  American  police  system, 
380  et  scq.;  summary  of  prob- 
lem, 382,  383 

Police  administration,  task  of, 
218  ct  scq.;  and  politics,  231  et 
scq. 

Police  boards,  rise  of,  76  et 
seq.;  in  commission-governed 
cities ;  182,  note 

Police  control,  development  of 
American,  58  et  seq.;  com- 
mencement of  consolidation  in. 


ii-ons,  by  E.  H.  Savage,  cited, 
59,  note ;  62,  63,  notes 

Policemen,  terms  of  service  in 
early  days,  68  ct  seq. 

Policemen  and  the  Public,  by 
Arthur  Woods ;  cited,  57, 
note ;   quoted,   292,  293 ;   cited, 

325 

Politi,  Copenhagen,  3 

Politics,  part  played  by,  in  de- 
velopment of  police  organiza- 
tion, 115  et  seq.;  in  board  ad- 
ministration, 149-151 ;  in  rela- 
tion to  chief  of  police,  256;  in 
relation  to  detective  force, 
330;  and  the  police,  381 

Pool-selling,  357  et  seq. 

Population,  comparative  study 
of  European  and  American,  4 
ct  seq. 


403 


Index 


Portland,  Ore.,  137,  174,  note; 
detective   bureau,   327 

Posen,  5 

Pound,  Dean  Roscoe,  cited,  47; 
quoted  on  the  function  of  law, 
53,  note 

Poverty,  as  a  source  of  crime, 
374  et  seq. 

Prccsidium,  Vienna,   117 

Prague,  5 

Pratt,  Joshua,  58,  note 

Precautions  Against  Crime,  cir- 
cular, quoted,  364,  365 

Prefect  jurisdiction  •  of  Paris, 
170;  powers  of,  in  Europe,  274, 
275 

Prevention  of  crime,  219  et  seq. 

Probation  officers,  373 

Proceedings  of  the  Academy  of 
Political  Science,  quoted,  289, 
290 

Procedure,  technicalities  of  crim- 
inal, 29  et  seq. 

Promotions,  to  administrative 
positions,  220  et  seq.;  civil 
service  applied  to,  279  et  seq. 

Providence,  R.  I.,  65,  note ;  102 ; 
137;  size,  police  board,  138; 
162,  164;  police  system,  271, 
note 

Public,  relation  of,  to  police,  43 
et  seq.;  responsibility  to  police, 
320  et  seq. 

Public  Opinion  and  Popular 
Government,  by  A.  Lawrence 
Lowell,   cited,    180 

Pullman,  Major,  murder  statis- 
tics of  Washington,  D.  C,  fur- 
nished by,  26 ;  230 ;  quoted  on 
facilities  for  homicide,  363 

Questore  di  Roma,  title  of  police 
commissioner  at  Rome,  245 

Quigley,  Chief,  Rochester,  N. 
Y.,  265 


Reading,  Penn.,  138,  note;  174, 
note;  police  system,  271,  note 

Recollections  of  a  New  York 
Chief  of  Police,  by  George  W. 
Walling,  cited,  87 

Record  systems,  detective,  346 
et  seq.;  importance  of  exact, 
347,  348 

"  Red-light  "  districts,  357 

Reform  of  Legal  Procedure, 
The,  by  Moorfield  Storey,  28, 
note ;  quoted,  30,  37,  note 

Reinstatement,  methods  of,  287 
et  seq. 

Republic  of  Nezv  Haven,  by 
Charles  H.  Levermore,  cited, 
60,  note. 

Residence,  European  and  Amer- 
ican qualifications  for  police- 
men, 277  et  seq. 

Richmond,  Va.,  negroes  in,  7; 
79,   137,  note 

Roanoke,  Va.,  174,  note 

Robbery,  comparative  statistics, 
17,   18 

Rochester,  137,  note ;  172,  police 
methods,   277 

Rome,  Italy,  223 ;  police  admin- 
istration, 232 ;  police  commis- 
sion, 245 ;  Italian  national  bu- 
reau of  identification  at,  351 

Roosevelt,  Theodore,  Autobiog- 
raphy, quoted  on  police  exam- 
inations, 291 

Root,  Elihu,  quoted  on  the  lib- 
erty of  law,  55 

Roumanians,  8 

Royal  Irish  Constabulary,  225 

Ruef-Schmitz,  regime  in  San 
Francisco,  145 

Russians,   5,  8 

Ryan,  Oswald,   174  note 


Saloons,  127 

Salt   Lake   City,    138,   note;    di- 


404 


Index 


rector  of  public  safety,  179; 
182;  patrol  system,  199;  police 
administrative  experiments, 
229 ;  police  system,  274,  350 

San  Antonio,  Texas,  138,  note ; 
174,  note;  182;  term  of  chief 
of  police,  254 ;  police  system, 
270 

San  Diego,  Cal..   186,  note 

San  Francisco,  2>7^  note ;  74,  75, 
94,  95,  107,  115,  143,  145.  150. 
155.  157 ;  police  legislation,  206, 
207;  police  administrative  ex- 
periments, 229;  commissioner's 
tenure  of  office,  238;  residence 
requirements  for  commis- 
sioner, 243;  term  of  chief  of 
police,  254,  255 ;  police  meth- 
ods, 277,  279;  detective  bureau, 
327,  328,  330;  organization  of 
detective  bureau,  22>Z,  2)2^'<  po- 
lice records,  341 ;  detective  su- 
pervision, 343 ;  in  relation  to 
criminal  identification,  350;  de- 
velopment of  police  force,  381 

Savage,  E.  H.,  Police  Records 
and  Recollections,  cited,  59, 
note ;  62,  63,  notes 

Savannah,   negroes   in,   7 

Saxony  state-controlled  police 
expenditure,  134,  note 

Schneider,  Albert,  cited,  299, 
note 

Schoneberg,   170 

Scotland,  murders  in,  compara- 
tive   table,     11;    homicides    in, 

13 
Scotland  Yard,  organization,  117; 
201;  identification  system,  351; 

353 
Scoville,    Samuel,   Jr.,   Evolution 

of    Our    Criminal    Procedure, 

quoted,  31 
Scranton,    137,  note 
Seattle,   137;  patrol  system,   199; 


280,  281 ;   method   of  training 
detectives,  331,  332;  police  rec- 
ords, 341  ;  method  of  detective 
supervision,  343 :  in  relation  to 
criminal  identification,  350 
Self-protection,  363  et  seq. 
Sergeants,  promotion  of,  280 
Servants,    police    suggestions    as 

to,  364 
Sen'ice    de    I'identite    judiciaire, 

Paris,  351 
Sevres,  170 

Seymour,  Horatio,  89,  note 
Shankland,    Justice,    opinion    of, 

on    state    control,    quoted,    85, 

note 
Shea,  Cornelius,  37,  note 
Shilitano,  Oresto,  case  of,  34,  35 
Sing  Sing,  Commissioner  Woods' 

assurance   to    convicts    seeking 

to     make     an     honest     living, 

366 ;     record    of     result,    366 ; 

367 

Siracusa  Sam,  case  of,  34 

Slavs,  8 

South  African  War,  225 

Spectator,  cited,  32,  note 

Sprague,  Charles,  case  of,  34 

Springfield,  Mass.,  137,  note; 
162,  164 

Springfield,  O.,  186,  note 

Spokane,  137,  note;  174,  note; 
commissioner's  salary,  175, 
note 

St.  Cloud,  170 

St.  Joseph,  Mo.,  in  relation  to 
state  police   control,    119,    127 

St.  Louis,  8;  homicides  in,  13; 
murder  record,  25;  79,  91;  in 
relation  to  state-controlled  po- 
lice, 119,  120,  126,  129,  132,  133, 
135.  ^37 '>  size  of  police  board, 
138;  139,  143,  162;  police  leg- 
islation, 207 ;  commissioner's 
tenure  of  office,  237;   residen- 


405 


Index 


tial  requirements  of  commis- 
sioner, 243 ;  police  system,  271, 
note;  police  methods,  277,  281; 
283  ;  police  training  school  sys- 
tem, 298  ei  seq.;  detective  bu- 
reau, 328 ;  reorganization  of 
detective  bureau,  2)?)7,  338 ;  spe- 
cialization in  detective  bureau, 
335 ;  341 ;  detective  records, 
346;  350;  parole  bureau,  2,77, 
note ;  chart  of  police  depart- 
ment organization,  389 

St.  Paul,  109,  137,  note;  174, 
note ;  commissioner's  salary, 
175,  note;  181,  184;  term  of 
chief  of  police,  254;  police  sys- 
tem, 270;  283;  detective  bu- 
reau, 328 

Star,  Kansas  City,  cited,  145; 
quoted  on  reorganization  of 
police  force,  272 

Star,  St.  Louis,  quoted,  135 

State  control  of  police,  118  et 
seq.;  successes  of,  121  et  seq.; 
failures,  125  et  seq.;  in  relation 
to  home  rule  problems,  128  et 
seq.;  comparative  cost  of,  ta- 
bles, 133 ;  applicability  of,  136 
et  seq. 

Station  houses,  133 

Statistische  Jahrbuch  der  Stadt 
Berlin,  cited,  5 

Storey,  Moorfield,  The  Reform 
of  Legal  Procedure,  28,  note; 
quoted,  30,  27,  note 

Strikes,  the  public  and,  318  et 
seq.;  and  the  police,  322  et  seq. 

Stuttgart,  police  administration, 
233;  244;  347 

Sullivan  Law^,  362 

Sun,  New  York,  quoted  on 
Tweed  Ring,  97,  98 

Suburbs,  growth  of,  166  et  seq. 

Supervision,  190  et  seq. 

Switzerland,  116;  police  commis- 


sion, 209;  police  administra- 
tion in,  233 ;  police  control, 
241 ;  244 
Syracuse,  137,  note;  police  ad- 
ministrator's term  of  service, 
239 


Tacoma,  138,  note;  174;  in  re- 
lation to  criminal  identifica- 
tion, 350 

Taft,  William  H.,  quoted,  28 

Tammany,  231 

Task  of  Social  Hygiene,  Have- 
lock  Ellis,  57,  note 

Thaw,  Hai;ry,  27,  note 

Thugs,  360  et  seq. 

Times,  London,  cited,  320 

Times,  New  York,  quoted,  45 ; 
quoted  on  New  York  police 
force  of  1857,  85 ;  quoted  on 
state-controlled  police,  97; 
quoted  on  political  patronage, 
103,  note 

Toledo,  55,  100,  107,  137,  note ; 
210;  chief  of  police,  258 

Tonawanda,  79,  note 

Topeka,  Kan.,  personnel  of  po- 
lice  commission,    176,    178 

Traffic,  202 

Training  school,  needed  for  po- 
lice administrators,  247  ;  for  re- 
cruits and  policemen,  298-299; 
the  New  York  school,  299-305  ; 
for  detectives,  331-333 

Trenton,  N.  J.,  138,  note;  174, 
note ;  police  arrangements,  202 

Trials,  criminal,  33-39;  discipli- 
nary, 281  et  seq. 

Trial  board,  285 ;  296,  note 

Tribune,  New  York,  quoted  on 
police  force  of  1857,  81 ;  88, 
89,  90 

Tsao-Shuen  Chang,  cited,  174, 
175,  note 


406 


Index 


Tweed,  William,  charter  of,  97, 
98,  103 

Uniforms,  early  attitude  of  po- 
lice toward,  70  et  seq. 

University  of  California,  police 
training  at,  33^ 

Urban,  Leo,  case  of,  35 

Vancouver,  in  relation  to  crim- 
inal identification,  350 

Van  Wyck,  Mayor,  105,  106 

Venice,  5 

Vienna,  national  character  of 
population,  5;  murder  average, 
14;  III,  223;  police  adminis- 
tration, 232 ;  police  president, 
237;  system  of  training  detec- 
tives, 332,  333;  detective  rec- 
ord system,  347 

Vollmer,  August,  chief  of  police, 
Berkeley,  Cal.,  cited,  299,  note ; 
quoted  on  automobile  patrol, 
310,  311;  The  Policoiian  as  a 
Social  IVorker,  by,  cited,  373, 
note ;   quoted,   377 

Waldo,  Commissioner,  reorgan- 
ization of  the  New  York  de- 
tective bureau  by,  337 

Wales,  population  of  England 
and,  10;  police  legislation,  208 

Walling,  George  W.,  cited,  87, 
note 

Waltham,  Mass.,  174,  note 

Warsaw.  6 

Washington,  D.  C,  negroes  in, 
7;  homicides  in,  13;  negro 
crimes  in,  22,  23 ;  murder  rec- 
ord, 25,  26;  137,  note;  174, 
note ;  irrelevant  functions  of 
police,  212;  police  system,  271, 
note;  police  methods,  277;  de- 
tective  bureau,   328;   351,   358, 


363;  juvenile  criminal  record, 
367;  chart  of,  police  depart- 
ment organization,  390 

"  Watch  Committee,  The,"  208 

Weber,  Albert  J.,  cited,  358,  note 

Weehawken,  167 

West  Hoboken,  policing  in,  167, 
168 

West  Point,  in  relation  to  police 
school,  203  el  seq. 

West  Virginia,  29 

Wheeling,  W.  Va.,  174,  note 

Whitlock,  Brand,  53,  note; 
quoted    on   Sunday   violations, 

54,  55 

Wichita,  Kan.,  personnel  of  po- 
lice commission,  178;  186,  note 

Wilson,  James  Grant,  cited,  59, 
note 

Women  police,  376,  377,  note 

Wood,  Mayor,  quoted  on  police 
legislation,  85 ;  87,  note 

Woodruff,  Clinton  Rogers,  Gov- 
ernmcni  by  Commission,  cited, 
174,  note 

Woods,  Commissioner,  Arthur, 
quoted  on  law's  delays,  40; 
159;  229,  230,  235;  quoted  on 
tenure  of  office,  235;  281;  286; 
quoted  on  civil  service  exam- 
inations, 289,  290 ;  292,  293 ;  in 
relation  to  New  York  police 
training  school,  301 ;  in  rela- 
tion to  police  technique,  304. 
305 ;  order  by,  in  regard  to 
strikes,  323 ;  quoted,  324,  325 ; 
and  detective  instruction,  332 ; 
333,  note;  reorganization  of 
New  York  detective  bureau  by, 
337 ;  quoted  on  detective  su- 
pervision, 342 ;  quoted  on  pre- 
vention of  crime,  355 ;  experi- 
ment of,  in  crime  diminution, 
3O0;  quoted  on  gangmen,  361  ; 
attitude      toward      ex-convicts 


407 


Index 

and  result  of  his  efforts,  366;  Wright,  William,  case  of,  36 
establishes  Junior  Police,  369; 

quoted,    369;    and    city    play-  Young,  Matthew,  62 

grounds,  369;  370;  quoted  on  Youngstown,  138,  note 
poverty,  374;   ZTi,  378,  note 

Worcester,  Mass.,   137,   162,   164  Zurich,  3 


408 


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